When Old Worries Are Fixed, New Ones Arrive
by Bellybuttonsarecool
Summary: April kept them apart, but she's bringing them back together. Lorelai helps April with a small dilemma and then finally tells Luke how she's feeling. Starts between 6.20 and 6.21, and it's mine from there. Will then go into their married life. LL.
1. Fixed

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from _Gilmore Girls_ are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

_So, this picks up between _Super Cool Party People _and _Driving Miss Gilmore. _Here's fair warning, I have not finished this story yet. It's so far filled two notebooks, but it's nowhere near finished. I can't guarantee that I'll finish it, but I swear, I'm going to do my best because I still love this story line._ _I'm also sorry to admit that I may not have another chapter up for a little while._

_This is going to be a mild M-rated story. _

_Before I start, I hereby promise:_

_1. I will never beg for reviews!_

_2. I will never include a poorly written/unoriginal argument about coffee._

_3. I'll do my best to suppress my desires to include song lyrics in a chapter I have in mind for the future. But if I fail, I promise it will only happen once. _

* * *

The ringing of the phone interrupted Lorelai's determination to get through Emma once and for all. Rory had nagged her long enough to finally read it, and with Luke's absence from her life of late, she had time enough to get through a chunk of this seemingly boring masterpiece. Lorelai shut the book and picked up the phone, "You've saved me!" 

The unknown caller replied, "What?"

Lorelai shook her head, "Never mind, who is this?"

"Sorry to bother you Lorelai, it's April."

Lorelai tried to hide the slight surprise in her voice, "Oh, hi. Don't worry. It's no problem. What's up?"

"Well," April started slowly, "I'm in Luke's apartment and I tried to call my mom, but she's not answering. I just feel weird talking to Luke and you're the first person that came to mind..."

"What is it?" Lorelai asked, concerned.

"Well, you see?" April began again, "I'm having a bit of a girl crisis..."

"Of what nature?" Lorelai questioned.

"Well, I've never had my period before and --" April stated shyly.

Lorelai jumped in, "Oh my gosh, say no more. Check under the sink in the bathroom, there should be something of mine there."

April walked with the cordless phone into the bathroom and opened the door.

"Anything there?" Lorelai asked hopefully.

"There's one." April relied.

"Oh, okay. Let me run to Doose's and I'll be there in less than ten minutes in case the tampon gives you any trouble."

"Thanks, Lorelai." April stated sweetly.

"Don't mention it, Hun."

* * *

Lorelai came up the stairs and knocked on the door lightly. "April? It's Lorelai. Can I come in?" 

"Yeah, I'm right here." April said as Lorelai slowly pushed open the door to see April almost pacing in the kitchen.

"Oh, good. Here you go." Lorelai held out the paper bag for April who quickly took it.

"Okay, thanks, well I'll be right back." April said as she headed towards the bathroom.

"I'll be here." Lorelai said awkwardly and waved.

As April disappeared into the other room, Lorelai put another paper bag on the kitchen table and pulled out two chocolate cupcakes with white fluffy frosting and colorful sprinkles and two cans of Diet Coke. She sat down at one side of the table and opened her can of soda. As she took a small sip, April reemerged.

"Crisis over?" Lorelai asked with a warm smile.

"Yes," April sighed with relief.

"Oh, good. If, slash when, you need anything...else, I'm around. Don't worry about Luke, he will not want to bring it up. If I ever come close to bringing up anything of the sort, his shoes become quite fascinating," Lorelai stated.

April smiled, "That's the vibe I got. He seems the type to just ignore all woman problems."

"What's this?" April referred to the cupcakes on the table.

"Well, since congratulations are in order here, I figured it was a good excuse for cupcakes." Lorelai answered.

April blushed and sat down.

"So," Lorelai raised her can of Coke, "Cheesy or not, may you now escape many a gym class."

April smiled and raised her Coke to touch Lorelai's, "I'll drink to that."

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment until April said, "So how'd you get by Luke anyway?"

"I told him I was looking for my sunglasses." Lorelai offered.

"Ah-ha."

"Well," Lorelai finished the last of her Coke, cupcake long gone, "I guess I'm off."

"Alright," April smiled, "Thank you so much, Lorelai. They day would have been a disaster..."

"No problem, April. 'We girls gotta stick together!'" Lorelai quoted Gypsy from a year earlier.

April just cocked her head, knowing she was missing something.

"Never mind." Lorelai waved it off.

"See ya." April waved.

"Bye." Lorelai said walking out.

"Thanks again." April threw in once more.

"Anytime."

Once Lorelai got downstairs, Luke asked, "Find 'em?"

"What?" Lorelai asked, forgetting her excuse briefly, "Oh, yeah. Thank goodness, my eyes were frying." She smiled and patted her purse, signifying that it held the glasses.

"Wouldn't want that," Luke followed.

Lorelai reached for the door, "Hey, I'll be back later, okay? Can we have dinner?" Lorelai asked, knowing that April will have left by eight.

"Yeah," Luke said, questioning why she asked that way.

"Okay, good." She walked towards him and kissed him once quickly. "See you later."

"Bye." Luke half asked as she closed the door; he walked into the kitchen confused.

* * *

A little after eight that night, Lorelai pushed Luke's apartment door open. "Hello?" 

"Hey," Luke said, standing at the stove.

Lorelai went over to him and looked over the pot. "What is it?"

"Well, it will be mac' and cheese in about five minutes." Luke smiled.

Lorelai nodded and went to grab two plates. As she set the table, Luke asked, "Is everything okay?"

"I just need some definition on a few things."

"What does that mean?" Luke asked.

"Well," Lorelai sighed, "I want to talk before my blood reaches the boiling point and I can't talk anymore because I'm in the hospital with a strange blood illness and they've regulated my breathing by putting me on oxygen."

"Lorelai."

"Sorry, but the way things are going is killing me."

"What? What's killing you?" Luke tried to understand, the mac' and cheese sitting in a bowl forgotten.

"No matter how many times you tell me otherwise, I can't help but feel like you don't want to marry me anymore," Lorelai admitted reluctantly.

"Of course I want to marry you."

"Well your actions keep telling me otherwise."

"What? What am I doing that's so awful?" Desperation in Luke's voice proved that he was trying hard to understand.

"Luke! You ignore me. You tell me not to come into the diner because April's here. You don't... Ugh!"

"I told you, I want to get to know April by myself."

"Luke, the whole town knows her. There's an updated profile in the Gazette about her every damn day. I'm the only one you tell to get out of the diner when she's here."

Luke rolled his eyes, "I don't tell you to get out."

"You say, 'I'll see you _after_ eight,'" Lorelai offered.

"I don't tell you to get out," Luke repeated.

"No! You _don't_ tell _Miss Patty, Babette, Kirk, Taylor, or Lane_ to get out. _Caesar_ knows your kid better than me, Luke!"

"Lorelai, they aren't a threat. She's not gonna like Kirk or Miss Patty or Babette more than me, that much I know."

"I can't believe you think I'm a _threat_!" Lorelai gasped, shaking her head.

"Lorelai, I told you before, she'll like you better. I need her to like me."

"Luke, listen to me," Lorelai stepped closer to him and rubbed his left arm with her right hand and held his right hand in her left, "April loves you. You are her _father_. She's loved you since the moment she realized you weren't leaving. Every kid needs a dad, Luke, just as much as they need a mom. Think about Rory, she loved Christopher no matter what. No matter how much _you_ did for her, she was always going to love her father. That's just how it works. She appreciates having you, Luke, as a friend. She knows you'll always be there."

"I will, and that's what I want April to know."

"Listen, April loves her mother. I know it. She talked about her at her birthday, Luke, and that's when I realized. She has a mother that's very much in her life. She has a father she's getting to know, and _I _will always be just a friend. Even _if_ I wanted to be more, she's always going to love you Luke, because you're her _father_. I'm just a friend. No matter what people say, any girl who loves her daddy is going to pick him over a friend. It might take a few years to realize, but she'll show you that she loves you, Luke. She will. Meanwhile, I'll be the other woman showing you I love you," she said smiling. Lorelai moved her hands around Luke's neck and looked him straight in the eye, "but you have to show me too. Please, don't let me doubt it anymore."

"I'm sorry, Lorelai," Luke wrapped his arms around her tightly and she wrested her head on his chest, "I don't know what happens to me. I just took you for granted. I don't know why. I love you more than anything. You are the only woman for me, okay? I'm not me without you. Without you, Lorelai, I could destroy the town. You've seen me." Luke shrugged with a slight smile.

Lorelai replied, "Oh, I know. Hey!" Lorelai said, "Maybe that's why Taylor made you promise to leave if we ever broke up. He's just _that_ protective of his town." They stood in the kitchen in a hug for a few minutes, swaying from left to right slowly.

"So, are we okay now? For real?" Luke asked.

"If you'll let the two women in your life be together without it being a big deal then I don't see why we should have any problems." Lorelai said hopefully.

"Oh, I might have a problem with that." Luke said slowly.

"What?" Lorelai backed out of their hug, "Then what the hell has this talk done?"

"No! Lorelai, no, that's not what I meant. Yes, of course, no more 'So, you'll pop up after eight,' I promise. I meant that even though I've only known I'm a father for a few months, I still am going to have a problem with people referring to April as a 'woman.' I mean she's only six months old, to me." Luke explained.

"Oh, well," Lorelai wondered if she should share the contents of her day with Luke or if that was breaking some sort of girl code.

"What?" Luke asked.

"Well, Dad, you might want to sit down for this." Lorelai motioned to the couch.

"Why? What's going on?" Luke asked, confused.

"I'm not really sure if it's my place to tell you this, but I figure, it's better to get the freak out over with without April having to witness it. Okay Buddy, your little girl's a woman...as of today," Lorelai said with an awkward smile, and let out a small laugh.

"Um, I'm not sure if that means what I think it means," Luke said, sitting on the couch, Lorelai on her knees sitting next to him, facing him, her hand on his thigh.

"It means that today, I was at home, minding my own business, reading Emma," Lorelai started.

"Who?" Luke, unaware of the existence of said Jane Austen novel, asked.

Lorelai continued, "when April called."

"April called you?"

"Yeah, and she seemed a bit flustered. And as it turns out, she had gotten her period and didn't know what to do."

"Oh my god." Luke put his hand on his forehead.

"Yeah, so..." Lorelai was about to continue on with her story.

"Wait. Why did she call you?"

"Well, she said she tried to call her mom and she didn't pick up. So,"

"Well, she could have asked me, I would have helped. See, that's what I mean. She likes you better," Luke said like he was a little kid fighting with his sister over the attention of their mother.

"Please, Luke, you can barely handle it now. Look at you, you're barely breathing. It was hard enough for her, Luke, without having to talk to her _dad_ about it. Can you picture it, in the middle of the diner? She tells you, you fall down, and in two minutes the whole town knows. No, that's not what she needed. She needed her mom or a friend. Preferably one that could drive to the store and get her what she needs. That's where I come in."

"Yeah," Luke sighed, "I guess you're right."

"I suppose it had to happen eventually." Luke smiled at Lorelai's joke. She always did know how to lighten the intensity of a conversation.

Luke put his arm around Lorelai's shoulder and pulled her to sit next to him. She unfolded her legs from beneath her and leaned into Luke's shoulder. "Thank you, Lorelai." They were silent for a minute until Luke continued, "So, I guess you saved my butt today. Huh?" Luke smiled.

"Well, you've got a pretty amazing butt, Luke," she joked, "I might have to kill myself if I let it get away."

Luke kissed her on the cheek, and they sat comfortably for a few minutes. Both content with the agreements they'd come to.

* * *

**Okay...felt the strange urge to switch to Lorelai's point of view for a bit. Only temporary...**

* * *

As we sit peacefully on the couch, the idea of disturbing the one moment in the last two months in which I've been happy seems crazy. But then my stomach grumbles loudly enough for Luke to hear, and I have to choice but to shatter the quiet with, "Hey, I'm starving." 

I pat Luke on the stomach as I get up. I walk over to the bowl of cold mac' and cheese. I pop open the microwave and set it for one minute. As I wait for the pasta to be slightly warmed, I take out two beers and grab the two forks I laid on the table earlier. As the microwave timer beeps, I open the door, stick the forks in, pick up the beers in one hand and the bowl in the other, and head back over to Luke, who has been watching my every move as if I were actually entertaining.

We remain silent for a few minutes eating mac' and cheese out of one big bowl.

"So?" I break the silence. "I hate to bring up another heavy topic tonight, but do you want to get married soon? Because, Luke, all I want is for us to just start our life together. Screw some fancy wedding. I just want to be your wife. We could just have a party once we're settled. Can we do that?" I turn to Luke with what I'm sure is a hopeful expression.

"That sounds good to me."

"Really? That's a relief," I admit.

"Yeah," Luke says, "How about in two weeks, when April's back here for the weekend, we get Rory and the four of us go somewhere -- anywhere you want. We get married, and then this summer we worry about everything else."

I lean in to kiss Luke. "The only flaw I see in that plan is that a honeymoon is not included."

"What do you have in mind?"

"I don't know," I start, "I was kind of thinking, do you want to take it right away?"

"Well," Luke started, "I mean I guess we don't have to...really."

"That didn't sound too convincing." I begin to worry slightly and say, "Why? What are you thinking?"

"Well, do you still want to have another kid? We don't have to, or not right away."

"Luke..." I smile widely because I can't believe this is the same man I've barely seen the past few months. "I'm totally ready for another kid."

"Okay, then should we go somewhere soon so that we can..."

"Get busy?" I joke.

"Well, yeah." Luke smiles.

"Yeah, that seems right." I agree.

"Okay," Luke says, "Can we finish this tomorrow? We'll start planning and everyting, but tonight, I'm dead tired and all I want is a calm night with my wife-to-be."

"Sure, Babe." I smile crazily. "What kind of night did you have in mind?"

Luke kisses me lightly; I take this to be his answer so I move in for a second kiss after smiling at him and whispering, "Good idea."

In ten seconds' time the kiss has escalated to meaningful as we open out moths to really greet each other. As soon as I taste Luke's tongue on mine I feel as if I'm about to lose control. I bring the kiss to frantic as I detach myself from him for the split second it takes me to straddle his lap and slam my lips back into his, thrusting my tongue into his mouth again -- possibly too eagerly. It prompts a, "Lorelai, you don't have to rush. We have all night."

I can't help it, so I tell him softly, "I know, but...I feel like it's been forever. I've missed you."

Luke smiles in agreement as I start to unbutton his flannel. "Has it really been that long? I think I've been blocking it out."

I can't help but sigh, "Luke, you haven't touched me since Martha's Vineyard. It's been more than two months."

I begin my frantic motions again once Luke replies, "That's a long time for us." I attach myself to his neck, sucking any spot I can get my lips on. Meanwhile, Luke's head has rolled to rest on the back of the couch while his hands roam my back, slowly pushing my shirt higher and higher. Once he reaches my bra, he unclasps it. I shiver in anticipation. As he moves his hands to my front side, I stop to enjoy myself for a moment. Before I know it, my shirt is on the floor, Luke's lips are attached to my breasts, and I can feel the ever-hardening lump in Luke's pants between my legs as we sit groin to groin.

* * *

**Lorelai's POV over...back to third person. But I'm sure you would have figured that one out. :)**

* * *

Ten minutes later, Lorelai and Luke remained on the couch in the same position. Luke was still inside Lorelai as she had her arms wrapped around his neck. Luke hugged her tightly with his arms around her naked back and her head wresting against his still flannel-covered shoulder. 

Luke whispered, "Hey."

Lorelai smiled, but Luke could not see it because of the position of her face on his shoulder. "Let's go over to the bed and go to sleep. Hm?"

"That's okay, I'm happy here," came Lorelai's quiet response.

"I am too, believe me, but let's go to bed."

"Fine."

Luke pats her back lightly trying to get her to stand up.

"Luke..." she whines slightly.

"Come on, Lorelai, we'll be more comfortable."

"Okay," she agrees but remains immoble.

A moments passed, and Lorelai still hadn't moved, so Luke took it upon himself. He moved forward and began to stand. Lorelai struggled to keep her legs wrapped around him. She said, "No, no. Don't pull out."

"I'll try," he scoffed as he tried to stand.

Finally he succeeded to stumble to the bed without detaching from her. All this with his pants still around his ankles. They sat in the same position on the bed.

"Now what?" Luke asked almost laughing.

"What?" Lorelai looked at him.

"Lorelai, we can't stay like this forever. I'm still half dressed and we'll never be able to sleep like this. Never mind what people in the diner or the inn would say to it."

Lorelai finished unbuttoning his flannel and started to laugh.

"What?" Luke asked with a smile.

"You, look at you, you're still dressed."

"Yeah?" He smiled.

"I just think it shows how far I was willing to go to have you." Playful Lorelai had emerged.

"Lorelai."

"Well, come on, it's just a little funny. I mean, plus, it's a little cliche, don't you think? My socks are still on."

Luke smiled at her. "I'm tired. Can we please just go to sleep?"

"Yeah, but first, can we please get this stuff off of you?"

"Well, I think _you'll_ need to get off of me first."

Lorelai slowly lifted herself off of Luke. "Ow. Ow," she said calmly.

"What? Are you okay?" Luke asked equally as calmly, feeling little need to worry with the lack of concern in Lorelai's voice.

"Yeah, we were just a little stuck." She smiled as she stood up. "We're good now." She pecked him on the lips before reaching down and taking off her socks.

As Luke undressed, she walked over to his dresser and pulled a pair of boxers and a big t-shirt out of the drawers. Luke tossed his clothes onto a near-by chair and stood completely naked. Lorelai turned and giggled briefly. She then tossed him the boxers and pulled the t-shirt over her head. They crawled into bed and Luke said softly as Lorelai cuddled close to him, "I love you, Lorelai, I'm so sorry I haven't been showing you that."

"I love you too, Luke. Thank you for tonight. It's been great."

* * *

Two weeks later, Luke and Lorelai were married in Hartford with Rory and April present. When they got home, they found that the town had thrown them a party . The two left for Maine in July where they spent two weeks together in a house on a lake. It was secluded enough so that they barely saw anyone but each other for 14 days. They chatted about their life together and decided that Lorelai would go off the pill once they got home and they'd begin to trying to get pregnant.

* * *

**And so the real story begins...**


	2. Guess What The New Worry Is

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from _Gilmore Girls_ are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

_Hi. Sorry about the 7.20 and 7.21 vs. 6.20 and 6.21 issue in the last chapter and the summary. For anyone who didn't figure it out, this story started near the end of season 6, not 7. Sorry about the confusion. That is fixed now, right?_

_I don't have an overwhelming amount of confidence in this story, but it's helping to see that people are at least reading it. I'd say this probably comes with writing a lot of extremely bad Gilmore fiction and going back to read it frequently (as it sits locked up in my room where no one could ever find it). What seems to happen is that it seems good while I'm writing it, but then I go back like 6 months later and I'm like, "What was I thinking?" (And yes, I do say that as if I have a mouthful of mashed banana on toast in my mouth). So, my hope is that in a year I'm not looking back at this with Lorelai laughing at me while I run into the kitchen to throw this whole heap of disgustingness away. So, I am hesitant to post things before I read them 100 times in case at some point I realize just how awful it actually is. Anyway, here's hoping it's not awful..._

_Oh, by the way, if you do find it awful, please let me know so that I can discontinue my embarrassment. Thanks._

_P.S. That was not me begging for reviews. :)_

* * *

It was late August, and Rory had gone back to Yale for her Senior year. Lorelai and Luke had gone back to a fairly regular routine, sexual and otherwise. April visited the diner regularly during the summer. Most times, Lorelai accompanied her for a meal while Luke worked. Luke and Lorelai decided to begin another add-on to their house because Lorelai could not bear to give up Rory's room to anyone permanently. So, they decided to add another bedroom upstairs and another downstairs off of the living room. The project was set to be finished by Christmas. 

It was Saturday morning and Lorelai noticed no difference in her attitude or physical being as of yet, but she wasn't worried about her and Luke's success because they weren't a completely young couple and they had only just decided to pursue their plans.

Lorelai walked into the diner and waited for Luke to appear. He came down from his former apartment all smiles.

"Hey," he greeted Lorelai.

"Hi." They kissed quickly before Lorelai asked, "Why are you all sunshine and joy today?"

"Well," Luke began, "I just got off the phone with Anna, and I guess she has to go to New Mexico for a while to take care of her mother who's sick. And she asked if April could stay here. Oh! It's okay that I said yes, right? You don't mind?"

"Of course not," Lorelai said sincerely. "You don't have to ask me stuff like that, Luke. As long as you _tell_ me, I have no problem. This will be fun."

"Okay, good. So, what'll you have?" Luke asked as he poured her coffee.

"Um, I think it's a pancake day."

"Sounds good. With blue berries?"

"Uh..no..chocolate chips," Lorelai said as if it was obvious, which it probably should have been.

"Well, I had to try," Luke shrugged.

"I know, and I applaud your effort." Lorelai smiled at him.

After Lorelai's breakfast she got up, about to leave -- just waiting for Luke so she could say goodbye. She planned to go to the mall with Sookie.

"Leaving?" Luke asked walking out from the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'm meeting Sookie."

"Sounds good," Luke nodded, "So, what time'll you be home?"

"Oh, I'd say like eight. We were planning to grab some dinner at this restaurant Sookie's trying to prove is not as good as it's supposed to be -- because that would dethrone her."

"Only Sookie," Luke sighed with a small laugh.

"Yeah," Lorelai agreed. "But hey," she put a hand on Luke's shoulder and leaned in slightly so that he could hear her whisper, "I thought that when I get home we could take a bath, and, you know, _try_..." Luke was visibly reddening, but Lorelai saw his smile and continued, "'Cause I mean, if April is gonna be staying with us for a while, we'll probably think twice about doing anything. Why not squeeze a few more rounds in before we give it up for a bit?" She smiled cutely.

"Uh, sure." Luke kissed her longer than he might usually in a semi-public place. "See you later."

They both smiled at the comfortable happiness they'd suddenly fallen into.

* * *

The day with Sookie passed quickly. Lorelai bought a summer dress that was on end-of-the-season sale. Sookie bought a bathing suit that would fit Davey next year which was on sale for the same reason. Neither could resist venturing into Victoria Secrets for a quick peek. What was meant to be a quick peek turned into Lorelai buying a little red number that she and Luke could both enjoy. 

At the restaurant Sookie made a scene based on an over-marinated piece of lamb that ended in the two women being escorted from the building by security. _"Never a dull moment,"_ Lorelai thought as the two climbed back into her Jeep and headed back towards Stars Hollow.

As they drove home, Sookie asked, "So? Anything planned for tonight?"

"Well," Lorelai smiled devilishly.

"Hm. Hm. Hm," Sookie almost grunted.

"Yes. Exactly."

"Luke will love today's purchase!" Sookie smiled.

"Yes, he will," Lorelai agreed, "but I'm not sure I'm going to reveal it tonight because we're supposed to be taking a bath."

"Ah-ha, no need for clothes in the bath."

"Right. So, I was thinking of saving it. You know how I said April was coming for a while?"

"Yeah," Sookie replied.

"Well, you and I both know Luke is not gonna want to do anything with her downstairs."

"Yeah, he's a bit old-fashioned that way, but you'll be able to convince him once you put that thing on." Sookie read her mind.

"Exactly," Lorelai laughed.

"So, are you guys thinking of having kids, or is Luke totally against the idea?" Sookie asked out of the blue after a moment of silence.

"Well," Lorelai smiled shyly.

"Oh my God! You're pregnant!" Sookie exclaimed.

"No, no. Not yet," Lorelai clarified.

"Yet? Yet!"

"Yes, yet. We're thinking about it," Lorelai dulled down the truth.

"-ing. That's present progressive. Does that mean that tonight you'll...I mean you won't..." Sookie used hand gestures to try to convey her point to Lorelai.

"Sookie!" Lorelai scolded. Sookie just smiled.

Lorelai looked over at her, smiled, and nodded slightly.

Sookie put her hand on Lorelai's forearm briefly. "I'm so happy for you," she whispered.

As they pulled up to Sookie's house, they said goodbye, and Lorelai pulled out of the driveway. As she did, she heard Sookie yell though the car's open window, "Have fun!"

* * *

Upon arriving home, Lorelai found that Luke was still at the diner. So, she put away her purchases and poured two glasses of wine which she put on the night table by the bed. She then undressed and put her clothes away. As she filled the tub, she pulled her hair into a loose ponytail. 

About ten minutes later, she heard Luke call to her from downstairs. She answered that he should come up because she was already in the tub.

He walked into the bathroom a few minutes later and began undressing. "Nice show," Lorelai mocked him.

Luke grunted in annoyance. He climbed in behind Lorelai and she sat between his legs, leaning her back on his chest. They sat chatting quietly about their day for a while.

When the water started to get cold, Lorelai leaned forward to drain the cold and add more hot. Meanwhile, Luke rubbed her back lovingly. Lorelai eventually leaned back and Luke's hands settled on her stomach.

"So? Nothing yet?" Luke hinted.

"No. Sorry. But hey, it can't hurt to keep trying." She smiled.

"Are you sure? We've been trying for a while."

"No," Lorelai laughed, "I don't think it's gonna hurt."

Luke rolled his eyes, "No, I meant are you _sure_ you're not pregnant yet?"

"You sound like a little boy waiting for a package, 'Are you _sure_ the mail hasn't come yet?'" She laughed.

When Luke said nothing in response, Lorelai said, "Yeah. I'm sure. I just had my period this week, so there's pretty much no way." She felt him cringe when she said the "P-word" and laughed mentally, remembering her discussion with April.

"Oh, okay." Luke sounded disappointed.

"Don't worry, Hun. We haven't been trying that long." She tried to convince him and herself at the same time.

"Yeah," he sighed skeptically.

"And, as much as I hate to admit this, we're not as young as we could be, so it might not happen that quickly. We might have to wait."

"Oh, right," Luke said, becoming more and more disappointed all the time.

Lorelai felt she had to stop this, so she said, "That doesn't mean we stop trying though." Luke smiled.

They agreed mutually without verbalization to get out of the bath a few minutes later. They serenely dried off and put on bathrobes as they held hands and went to sit in bed. They continued to chat happily, as they drank the glasses of wine Lorelai left for them, for a while, neither wanting to be rushed tonight.

The events of the night were slow but frequent. They were filled with love, selflessness, and admiration. Lorelai gave up her own pleasure to fully satisfy Luke and watch him enjoy her. In return though, Luke made it a point to please Lorelai once he recovered. They fell asleep around 3:00 AM, after countless rounds -- some urgent, but most filled with calm. In between, they talked and laughed, neither ever having to come up with something to fill the blissful silences.

Around 10:00 AM, Luke stirred and looked at the clock. He knew it had been a while since he slept that late, but he was not worried. Caesar and Lane had diner matters under control, he was sure, and he knew they hadn't fallen asleep until early that morning. He justified that the late sleep was well-deserved.

Luke watched as Lorelai slept, loose pieces of hair fell from a ponytail that was re-done many a time the night before as it continuously fell victim to Luke's hands. Luke rested one hand on her stomach, lost in wishful thinking.

Lorelai woke up peacefully and noticed Luke, who was deep in thought.

"Hey, watcha thinkin' about?" Lorelai whispered, sleep still present in her voice.

"Oh, hey. Good morning. I was just thinking about how we've gotten to this point, and where we'll end up."

She just kissed him lightly. He deepened the kiss for a moment, but Lorelai eventually pulled away reluctantly. "Mmm," Luke whined.

"Sorry, Hun. I can't."

"Why? What's wrong?" Luke asked with worry.

"Nothing, it's just...How many times did we...?"

"Um, I lost track." Luke smiled.

"So did I." She smiled back.

"What does that have to do with now?" Luke asked smirking.

"Well," Lorelai started, "nothing, besides the fact that it resulted in my current pain. I can't really take any more right now. I'm not sure I'll even be able to walk without a limp of some sort."

"Oh, sorry. Well, then how about I make us some breakfast in bed?"

"Sounds good, except that it would require you leaving the bed."

"How does coffee and cereal sound then? -- Quicker."

"Perfect," she replied with a quick kiss.

"Okay," Luke began to move out of bed. He pulled on some sweat pant cut-offs and began down the stairs.

Lorelai, wanting to wash up, went to get in the shower. As she stood, she realized she was exaggerating less then she thought as the soreness was quite evident at first. However, it faded slightly as minutes passed. She got in the shower and rinsed off quickly before putting on a t-shirt and pink shorts that said, _"Oh, yeah!"_ on the butt. She got back into bed and searched the TV for a late morning movie. She settled on Must Love Dogs as it played repeatedly on one movie channel or another.

Luke came back a few minutes later and they watched casually, supporting the movie's witty conversationalism with much of their own as they happily relaxed the morning away.

* * *

A few days later, April arrived with Anna at Lorelai's front door. Luke was at the diner. The greeting was cold between Anna and Lorelai despite Lorelai's efforts, but soon Lorelai let them say goodbye, and Anna left to see Luke at the diner. Together Lorelai and April carried April's bags towards Rory's room. Lorelai opened a few drawers previously occupied by Rory's books, and pointed out some space in the closet. "Just get settled, and I'll be out here if you need something or something." Lorelai motioned towards the living room. April smiled in return. 

Lorelai peeked back in a moment later, "Oh, by the way, this bathroom is yours," she said indicating the one in the hallway, "and I bought a bunch of stuff for it, but I'm sure you have your own."

"Yeah," April confirmed, "but thanks."

"Okay, well." She left April alone.

"Hey, Lorelai?" April called after her. Lorelai returned to the bedroom, standing in the doorway. "Is this weird for you?"

"A little," Lorelai admitted, "but it's not you."

"Okay, because I don't want it to be weird."

"Me either," Lorelai agreed with an encouraging smile. "Do you want some help?" She offered pointing to April's bags of stuff. April agreed and they spent some time unpacking April's things. They chatted comfortably, April loving every minute of it.

"Lorelai?" April tested.

"What?" Lorelai answered sweetly as she folded a sweater of April's and placed it in a drawer.

"Do you guys want more kids?" April's bluntness shining through.

"Um, wow, okay, well..." Lorelai threw out as many words to fill the silence and delay actually giving an answer as she could think of. She wasn't sure Luke wanted April to know, but she was fairly sure that if he did, he'd want to be the one to talk to her.

"You don't have to answer," April said apologetically, although very little embarrassment was present in her voice or facial expressions. "Sorry, my mom always says I'm too forward with things."

"Well, we have that in common," Lorelai joked. "The thing is, I have no problem telling you that your dad and I want to and are trying to have a baby, but I'm afraid that now that I have," Lorelai laughed out loud at her inability to keep anything quiet, "one, he'll be mad that he didn't get to tell you that himself, and two, I've just put images into your head that are best left out of your head."

"That's okay," April laughed, "I asked, plus, I try not to picture my parents having sex. Call me crazy, but it's just a rule I live by."

Lorelai couldn't help but laugh at this, partly because it was funny to hear coming from a 13 year old girl. In her experience, 13 year old girls were supposed to be quiet and awkward towards this subject, and they never said the word without any visible embarrassment or reluctance. Hell, most just avoided it all together. April though, seemed to be unfazed by it. This fact alone was worthy of a smile from Lorelai.

Lorelai agreed, "I'm with you on that one, especially since once, when I was 15, I walked upstairs and looked straight down the hallway through my parent's open bedroom door at the end of the hall and saw my dad's arms wrapped around my naked mother. I just turned back around and walked right back downstairs and out of the house."

"Wow, that would be really awful."

"Yeah," Lorelai wondered why she was opening up this much, especially at her next comment, "but you don't have to worry about that. At least not here, and at least not while you're here while your mom's in New Mexico."

"Okay. Good to know." April smiled, and Lorelai nodded, questioning herself and shaking her head. She seemed to be unable to stop talking. "I'm sorry," April curiously, "but didn't you say you were _'trying' _to get pregnant?"

"Yeah, we are. I hope you want a sibling. Secretly, I'm hoping for another girl, but I think Luke wants a boy."

"No, I mean, yes, I do. I actually have wanted a sibling for a while, but what I mean was. Doesn't _'trying'_ to get pregnant imply..." She trailed off, hoping Lorelai would catch on.

"Yeah?" She didn't.

"Well, it implies some sort of..._action_, but you said I don't have to worry about..."

"Oh, oh, sorry," Lorelai caught on. "No, Luke made me promise that we wouldn't while you were here."

"Wow, sorry about that," April replied, perhaps more knowingly than she had experience to justify it with.

Lorelai let out a satisfied laugh, "I appreciate that."

Luke walked in to hear laughing with a box of pizza. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing," April said making it obvious she did not care to share this conversation. Lorelai was almost surprised by this. April had managed to go from completely open to slammed shut in ten seconds time.

_"She can turn it off and on so quickly,"_ Lorelai thought as she turned to Luke and said, "Just some girly stuff that wouldn't interest you."

April continued to unpack as Lorelai walked towards Luke and kissed him quickly, mouthing, "I'll tell you later," and making her way over to the pizza.

* * *

That night, Lorelai was changing into her pajamas when Luke walked into the bedroom. She was in her bra and underwear when Luke walked through the door. 

"Oh, sorry," Luke said looking away from her and started to walk towards the bathroom.

"Luke, you really don't have to apologize for seeing me getting changed. We're gonna be together for the rest of our lives, so we should probably be okay with it. After all, it's not like it's anything you haven't seen plenty of times before." She finished with a smile.

"Yeah, it's just reflex."

Lorelai smiled and nodded as Luke undressed on the other side of the bed.

"Hey, Lorelai?"

"Yeah?" She asked, pulling a tank top over her head.

"What were you and April talking about when I walked in?" He asked curiously, walking towards the bathroom.

"Sex," she stated directly, following him into the bathroom as she removed her bra from beneath her tank top and dropped it into the basket of laundry by the bathroom door.

"What?" Luke looked slightly appalled.

"Luke, you put two women together and it's bound to come up eventually..." Lorelai joked, just to get Luke's reaction.

"Okay...what did you say?" Luke paused and then added quickly, "What did she say?" Another pause was ended by an almost vicious, "What did you tell her?" Luke panicked slightly.

They both began brushing their teeth as Lorelai started to explain. "Well, she asked what she should do because she has this new boyfriend and he wanted to --" She was cut off abruptly.

"What!" Luke coughed on the toothpaste and spit it out viciously, looking horrified at Lorelai.

"I told her to be ready because it hurts the first time, but she assured me that this won't be the first time."

"Lorelai," Luke warned realizing her joke.

"Relax, Luke!" She laughed as they both still stood in the bathroom by the sinks. "She asked if we were planning on having kids."

"Did you tell her?" Luke asked quickly.

"Yeah, but I felt bad because I was afraid you wanted to."

"Well, I did want to," Luke confirmed in an annoyed tone.

"Oh." Lorelai regretted ruining Luke's chance. "Luke, I'm sorry I spoiled it. I shouldn't have done that. It should have been you."

"Yeah, it should have been," he agreed, still annoyed, "but, you know what?" His tone grew more light. "That's okay because it would have just been weird for me anyway, and it's not worth being mad at you for."

"Good." Lorelai took his hand for a moment. "Thank you...and I'm sorry, again, really."

They just smiled silently for a moment until Lorelai continued, "So, I said we were trying, but I assured her that we wouldn't be _trying_ while she was here, so she wouldn't have to worry about finding us...you know."

Luke's horrified look returned momentarily as Lorelai continued, "Then I told her a story about one time when I walked in on my parents, which is what we were talking about when you got home."

"Oh wonderful," Luke grunted sarcastically. "I was trying to keep that image of your parents out of my mind. Thanks for ruining my goal."

"Anytime," She responded sweetly.

Lorelai then smiled and led him over the bed where they laid down on top of the covers. It still being a hot, late summer night, Lorelai was sprawled out in just a white tank top and underwear, Luke in some cotton shorts. Lorelai began to drift but was aware of Luke's uneasiness beside her. She fought sleep to say, "Luke, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he assured.

"Yeah, you're thinking about something. I can tell." She rolled onto her side and looked at him knowingly.

"Should I talk to her?"

"April? About what?"

"Do you think she's thinking about sex?" He asked, worry the only emotion on his face.

"Luke," Lorelai laughed, "I'm sure it crosses her mind, but she's an innocent, 13-year-old girl. I wouldn't worry too much."

"Well, you were only 16 when you had Rory. I'm sure your parents thought you were just and innocent girl."

"Luke," Lorelai laid on her side, her head resting on her hand, supported by her elbow. She gently rubbed Luke's stomach, and its surrounding area, as he laid on his back with his hands under the back of his head, "first, I think people forget this because they know me and they're around me and Rory a lot, but remember that I'm the exception, not the rule. And, I'd say we have about a 99 percent chance that Anna already took care of that, but if, in the next couple of years, we think it's becoming an issue, we won't hesitate to talk to her. That is if you want my help, because I just don't know what that talk would be like if you tried to do it alone. But, Luke? I'm sorry I worried you. I was just joking."

He smiled at her and kissed her lightly. "I know..." After a pause he added, "If my daughter wasn't right downstairs, I would kiss you and pull that shirt down to reveal the very little that I can't see _through_ it already." He looked her straight in the eye as he said this.

"Where did that come from?" Lorelai asked, laughing, smiling, and adding, "Not that I don't like it."

"Well," Luke tried to explain himself out of this situation, "the fabric's really thin, and I keep trying not to look because I'm not helping myself by looking, but..."

"Sorry," she smiled bashfully.

"Yeah, yeah. Like you didn't do it on purpose."

"I didn't tonight, it was just hot," She insisted. Then she turned to face the other way to help Luke out and backed up against his chest as he slung an arm over her stomach and kissed her neck. Moments later, they both began to drift off to sleep.

* * *

_Well, this one came out sooner than I expected. Again, it might be a while until the next one. _


	3. Disappointment

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from Gilmore Girls are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

_So, this is actually sooner than I expected again because my huge plans for today fell through with a crash, so here I am. At your service instead. :)_

_I can't say I'm completely satisfied with the beginning of this chapter, but oh well._

* * *

Lorelai and April sat at the kitchen table on a Tuesday afternoon in late September. They were folding laundry and waiting for Luke to come home for dinner. Casual chatting ceased momentarily and during a comfortable silence, Lorelai began smiling uncontrollably -- consumed in her own thoughts. April noticed and inquired, "What are you smiling about?" 

"Oh," Lorelai looked up at her, "I didn't even realize that I was." She paused for a moment, then continued, "I was just thinking..." Another pause, Lorelai was once again unsure whether or not to continue. "Well," she said with a sense of finality, "Why not tell you, right? I've been wanting to share this with _someone _because I can't stop thinking about it and I know I shouldn't be this excited and I shouldn't get my hopes up, but I just can't help it..." She let out the rest of the air she held in quickly.

April looked at her, smiling too, with a thoroughly perplexed expression.

"Right," Lorelai continued, noticing April's expression. "So? I guess I might as well say it because it's not like I haven't been maybe a little too open with you in the past, and let's face it, I need to tell someone."

April smiled slightly and nodded, just trying to follow Lorelai's hurried words.

"So," Lorelai began for a third time, this time getting to the point, "I'm just kind of hopeful because right now I'm six days late which is a lot for me and I'm just really hoping that this might be it." Lorelai said this with a shy smile, getting softer as she ended her confession.

"Wait," April tried to understand, furrowing her eyebrows, "So, you might be pregnant?"

Lorelai nodded as she laughed out, "I'm shocked, honestly, that you were able to separate enough actual info from all the nonsense that just came out of my mouth in order to figure that out."

"I speak so much nonsense myself that I must be used to it," April said.

"I am just really excited." Lorelai started smiling again. "I can't stop imagining what it will -- or would, I should say -- be like...Okay, so now I feel a little stupid. I don't even know yet, and I'm sure I've shared more with you in this 5 minutes than you'd ever care to hear. Sorry," Lorelai finished, still enthusiastically.

"That's okay," April assured, "I'm kind of excited too, and if you weren't then _I _would be the one who feels stupid. So, you know, thanks for taking the heat."

"No problem," Lorelai laughed. The two girls finished folding and were putting Luke's and Lorelai's clothes back into the basket to bring up stairs, then April moved to bring hers into the near-by bedroom. "Well," Lorelai sighed, "I guess we'll see what happens."

"Yup," April agreed as she shut the dresser drawer and returned to the kitchen as Lorelai started towards the living room with the basket of clean laundry.

* * *

That Saturday, Lorelai was working, and April was helping Luke at the diner. She planned to go out to dinner with a few friends from swim around 5:00 and then to the movies and be back home around 10:00. Luke tried not to hope that his might mean he and Lorelai could have some fun while she was out. 

At the inn, Lorelai was having trouble focusing on her paper work. She wanted nothing more than to ignore the fact that she had a headache and cramps again today, which would usually mean that her period was right around the corner. However, since she wanted nothing more than to have Luke's baby, she ignored this fact in hopes that it wasn't really happening. She kept thinking about how she was now already ten days late this month and she had started to get her hopes up. The fact that she was igoring it was not helping because as she sat signing papers, a bottle of Tylenol sat inside her desk drawer. However, because she chose to deny the situation it meant refusing to take any.

Around 2:30, Lorelai gave up with a sigh and walked into the kitchen. "Sook?" She called.

"Yeah?" Sookie answered from the stove.

"I'm gonna go home. I'm not feeling very well," Lorelai admitted reluctantly.

"Oh," Sookie looked concerned, "Is something wrong? You know, like that you know of. 'Cause, I mean obviously something's wrong if you're not feeling very well." Both Lorelai and Sookie knew they were lucky that Sookie ended the babble there.

"No, well, I'm...I'm just tired," Lorelai answered with a sigh.

"Okay, Hun, I'll see you Monday. Feel better." Sookie rested a hand on Lorelai's as it sat on the counter beside the stove.

"Thanks," Lorelai forced a smile as she turned to leave. Grabbing her purse, she left the Dragonfly and drove home.

When she got home, Lorelai changed from a brown dress into sweat pants and a sweatshirt and laid down on the bed. She turned on the TV but found herself not paying attention, so she clicked it off in defeat.

She picked up the phone on the small nightstand at the left side of the bed and called Luke's cell. He didn't answer, but she wasn't surprised because he couldn't usually get to it during work. Plus, he followed his own "No Cell Phones" rule pretty carefully. She left a message for him instead, "Hey, Hun, I'm at home. Uh, just bring dinner when you come home...but not a burger, anything else is fine, except for anything that doesn't include pasta, sauce, and meatballs...Thanks. Bye."

She laid on the bed for a few minutes wanting nothing more than to pound the aching out of her stomach. Finally, after about twenty minutes, she gave up, walked into the bathroom, and swallowed two Tylenol. She then reached under the bed and pulled out a blue heating pad, plugged it in, and threw it on the bed, with a huff. She laid down on her stomach and tried to fall asleep.

An hour later, she woke to April standing in the doorway. "Hey, April," she greeted groggily, sitting up on the bed.

"Hi, Lorelai. Sorry to wake you up."

"No problem." Lorelai said sincerely.

"Well, Luke said you were at home...and I just wondered if you could help me."

"What's up?" Lorelai asked with a forced smile.

"Well, you know I'm going to that thing tonight and, well..." April trailed off.

Lorelai's smile widened. "Is there a guy on your swim team that's grabbed you attention?"

"Yeah," April said bashfully.

"Ahh!" Lorelai's mood quickly shifted to playful. "Sit down in that chair right there, and let me show you how it's done," Lorelai sang, mocking the famous Charlie Daniels song.

April sat down in the chair facing a vanity mirror and countertop buried in make-up. She wore jeans, a light purple top, and a jean jacket. Her hair was down and straitened.

Lorelai began, "Okay, let's not go too crazy, but we'll see what we can get away with. I'm afraid Luke might injure me if I make you too appealing."

April smiled and nodded.

"So, what's his name?" Lorelai asked.

"Dan," April replied shyly.

"And, what's he like?"

* * *

A half hour later, April was being picked up at the front of the house wearing light purple eye shadow, subtle pink blush, and light pink lip gloss.

As the car pulled away Lorelai's smile slowly faded because she no longer had any distractions. She groaned, shut the door, and went back upstairs. She fell asleep, and about an hour later, heard the front door shut and Luke yell, "Lorelai, where are you?"

She responded as she un-plugged the heating pad and put it back under the bed. She turned the TV on as Luke climbed the stairs, not wanting Luke to worry about her.

"Hey, Hun," he greeted her, "you were home early today. Is everything okay?" Luke kissed Lorelai quickly before taking off his shoes, sitting on the bed next to Lorelai and unpacking the bags containing their dinner.

Meanwhile, Lorelai replied, "Yeah, it's fine. I was just tired and stuff." She shrugged it off.

"Okay, if you're sure," Luke replied reluctantly, looking at her for a moment.

"Yeah," she breathed out as she rested her hand on top of his as it softly stroked her thigh. He smiled and turned towards the TV.

"Friends?" Luke asked.

"Yup," Lorelai confirmed.

They sat in silence for a while watching the TV together as Lorelai ate the spaghetti and meatballs Luke brought her and he ate his garden salad, no surprise there.

Two and a half episodes into the Friends marathon, Lorelai suddenly noticed something, _"Oh shoot!" _She rested her hand on Luke's knee and whispered, "I'll be right back, don't you go anywhere." She smiled, climbed off the bed and made her way into the bathroom.

She emerged a few minutes later and rejoined Luke on the bed. He looked over at her, "Everything okay?"

"Fine, fine," she responded not so assuringly. Luke didn't take his eyes off her right away, trying to read her facial expression. He slowly gave up and returned is eyes to the screen where Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe watched two people having sex across the street through their apartment window.

To Luke, Lorelai seemed tense for some reason, and he wanted both to soothe her and for her to open up to him so that he could stop worrying about her. His hand made its way to the small of her back. He rubbed her back soothingly as they watched TV. She was not unaware of his hand slipping under her sweatshirt to her bare back every so often. Soon, she looked at him and smiled mischievously, wondering if he had some sort of agenda. His hand made its way towards her opposite side until he had his right arm wrapped half way around her. He then slowly pulled her towards him so that she had no choice but to lean in for a kiss, which she accepted gratefully. They returned to Friends for a while, but then Luke pulled her in again and deepened the kiss this time as he brought his hand to her cheek. He pulled away, unsure of what she was thinking. She continued watching the show, but Luke could not take his eyes off of his beautiful wife. As she sat cross-legged on the bed, her hair's long curls rested peacefully against her peachy cheeks. Luke could not resist touching her. He softly touched her hair, holding a piece between his fingers **(I don't know about you, but I'm thinking about Luke playing with Lorelai's hair as they stand on the front porch at the beginning of "Twenty-one is the loneliest number.") **and feeling its silkiness. He played with the strands of hair sitting in front of her left shoulder for a while as she sat contently. Once he tucked the brown locks behind her ear, he could no longer help himself.

He leaned into her, kissing her softly along the jaw line. He made his way to her earlobe, sucking gently. He knew that she knew that he knew that she was trying desperately to delay what he was sure was the inevitable, just to tease him. He kissed down her jaw line again, towards her chin, and used one finger under her chin to turn her smiling face towards him gently.

Once he reached her lips she decided to become involved, resting a hand on his left knee and kissing him back. His hand returned to her back, once again making its way beneath her sweatshirt. Her hand traveled up his thigh to his side and her other hand to his shoulder as he braced her back with his forearm and lowered them so that they were laying on the bed.

Lorelai lay on her back, head resting on the pillows with both feet braced against the mattress Her knees were spread apart, and bent at right angles, one on either side of Luke, who used his arms to keep himself hovering over her. Lorelai's hands caressed Luke's scruffy face as their tongues artfully dueled. Then, Luke decided to make his way back towards Lorelai's ear and her hands moved to rub his back.

A few minutes later, after giving her earlobe the treatment he felt it deserved, Lorelai watched Luke's head move lower as his lips and tongue trailed down her neck. He got to her chest and her hands dropped to her sides onto the bed as he unzipped her front-zipping sweatshirt all the way, quickly revealing only her front-clasp bra. Luke's lips carefully treated the area of both breasts not covered by the soft, yellow bra. He moved his tongue between her breasts and quickly undid the clasp, thinking about how effective and helpful this invention had become.

"Luke," Lorelai breathed out contently as Luke moved each cup off of its respective resting place to reveal parts of Lorelai that were by no means new to Luke, but he was never sorry to see and touch. Tonight, however, he focused on the taste as his mouth moved all over Lorelai's upper half.

After about twenty minutes Luke realized that Lorelai was dozing off slightly because of all the positive attention. His right hand traveled from its position on the bed to the waist band of Lorelai's sweatpants. As two fingers slid underneath, he continued to give attention to her neck as he gently began to tug at her sweatpants.

"Luke," he heard softly.

Believing this to be a sign of Lorelai's appreciation, he continued.

"Luke, wait," he heard this time, still softly. Lorelai leaned away so that Luke was no longer kissing her neck.

"We can't," she responded to his look of confusion.

"No, Lorelai, it's fine. April won't be back for at least an hour."

She smiled slightly and tried again once Luke continued his kissing of her neck and pulling of her pants. "I mean," she got out, "_I_ can't." She put her hand on his, stopping it from removing her pants.

"Why?" He looked at her, almost hurt.

"Because," she started quietly. Luke continued to just look at her questioningly. "I'm not pregnant," she finished forcefully.

"Um," Luke wrinkled his eyebrows, confused. "So?" He dragged the word out.

"So, I can't. Not tonight."

"I don't understand how the two things connect." He moved to her right side and sat on the bed. She rolled slightly to her right and looked at him. She re-fastened her bra, not bothering to zip the sweatshirt as she sat up to explain it to him.

"I know you've noticed that I've been a little off today." She didn't wait for his response, but he nodded as she continued. "Well, I haven't felt well for the past couple of days, and I was like ten days late. You know. _Late?_ So, I was getting kind of hopeful that maybe we were pregnant, but then I started feeling disgusting. I was trying to just ignore it because I want us to be pregnant so badly, but today I just had to face reality. At work, the cramps were so bad -- since I was in denial and wasn't taking anything -- that I just couldn't take it so I came home. I was sleeping for a while and feeling a little bit better, but I knew it was coming..."

"Oh, it is?" Luke looked disappointed.

"It did..." Lorelai admitted.

"Oh," Luke said quietly, "when?"

"After we ate, I went to the bathroom..." She trailed off, assuming he could take it from there.

"Oh, right."

"So, it's not that I don't _want_ to, but I just can't. Not tonight. I'm sorry, baby." She had her hand on Luke's lower arm and kissed his cheek slowly.

He responded with a weak smile, "Don't be sorry. I'm sorry I didn't get you pregnant." Luke said this with uncharacteristic disappointment.

"Me too," Lorelai agreed, "but it's not _all_ your fault." Lorelai finished on a lighter note with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah...Okay, well." Luke trailed off.

"Well, hey," Lorelai began, her weak, forced smile turned to one of dirty mischief. "Just because I can't...you know, doesn't mean I can't..._you know_..." Her smile held as she raised both eyebrows twice suggestively. Luke laughed slightly. "Come on," Lorelai justified, "you just did that for like a half hour. At least let me pay you back."

"No, that's okay. You didn't feel good, and you're tired. Why don't you just go to sleep? I'll bring this stuff downstairs and be right back up." He referred to the trash that was still on the bed.

"Luke..." Lorelai pleaded, "That's not fair to you..."

"No, it's okay, Lorelai. You were the one who didn't feel good. If I helped at all with that, then that's all I need," Luke insisted sweetly.

"Thanks, Hun." She smiled adoringly at Luke as he walked out of the bedroom with an armful of trash.

"I'll be right back up."

When Luke returned from downstairs, he set a glass of water on the nightstand next to Lorelai. He then undressed, changing into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, and went into the bathroom. A few minutes later he emerged and walked to Lorelai's side of the bed (closest to the door) where she was lying on the heating pad on top of the covers. Luke put a hand on her back and she turned her head to look at him. He held his left hand out, displaying two Tylenols. With his right hand he passed the glass of water to Lorelai as she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, taking the pills from Luke's hand. Luke sat beside Lorelai on the bed, rubbing her back soothingly as she downed the pills. She then returned the water to the nightstand and turned to look at Luke. She leaned in and wrapped her arms around his midsection and rested her head on his chest, Luke wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

"I love you, Luke," Lorelai whispered to him.

"I love you, too." He kissed the top of her head, "Don't worry, Lorelai, it'll happen."

"I hope you're right," Lorelai sighed.

_"Me too,"_ Luke thought. "Go to sleep, you'll feel better tomorrow," Luke instructed encouragingly, not really knowing this aspect of Lorelai well enough to know if that was true or not. He said it anyway. It sounded good, he justified to himself.

Lorelai pecked Luke on the lips quickly, lingering close to his face for a moment, and then laying back on her stomach.

Luke returned to his side of the bed and lay on his side, his left arm supporting his head and his right continuing to rub Lorelai's back. "Thank you, Luke. You've been so great tonight, Baby," Lorelai whispered groggily a few minutes later, half asleep.

"Shhh..." Luke whispered back. Once she had fallen asleep, he pushed a hair out of her face and continued, "That's what I'm here for."

He stared contently at his sleeping beauty while he waited for his daughter to get home. He heard a car pull up a bit later and soon April was making her way up the stairs. She stopped in the doorway as Luke whispered, "You have fun?"

"Yeah," April assured, "I'll tell you about it tomorrow...Is Lorelai okay?"

"Oh well," Luke started, now faced with Lorelai's reoccurring predicament, _"How much should I share?",_ "She will be."

"What's wrong?" April whispered concerned.

"Oh, you know, woman things." Luke hoped April could not see his flushed cheeks in the dark.

"Oh," April said disappointedly. "So? Is she not pregnant yet then?"

"No, not yet," Luke responded, with the same level of disappointment.

"Okay, well. See you in the morning."

"Goodnight, April."

"I love you, Dad," April tested as she turned away.

Luke replied smoothly, "Love you, sweetie." He smiled to himself for a second. He then reached down to the end of the bed to spread the blanket that lay folded there over Lorelai's sleeping body. Before crawling under the blanket with Lorelai, he got up one final time to unplug her heating pad so she wouldn't burn herself.


	4. 16 Candles for Everyone

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from Gilmore Girls are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

_Hey, sorry I skipped a week. I can't even remember what I did last weekend that I was too busy to update. Oh, yeah. Great-grandfather's 95th Birthday. Speaking of Birthdays...mine's in 3 days. Yay! Oct. 2. Remember that date because it will come up later. :) Hehe._

_Okay, so this chapter has very little plot. Well, you know, stuff happens, but not significant stuff. It wasn't intended to be a filler or anything, I just think that a lot of times my favorite stories are the ones that show daily life and not crazy things that we never want to happen anyway. I actually really like this chapter. Not, I'm really proud of it. I just like it. _

_Anyway, I hope you like it too. :)_

Oh, I just thought of this.

_4. I promise this story will have no car crashes_.

* * *

Almost a week later, Lorelai sat on the couch reading the latest Cosmo when Luke walked in around 3:30. 

Since Michel only seemed annoyed by Lorelai's presence that day, she decided to go home, figuring he would get more work done this way. So, she took some paperwork home before getting distracted by a pointless magazine. She looked up and asked Luke, "What are you doing home?"

"I could ask you the same question," he replied slyly.

"I was annoyed with Michel, so I brought my work here," Lorelai explained.

"Oh, I just wanted to come say hi before I go to get April," was Luke's reasoning.

"What time do you have to get her?"

"She has science club until 4:30."

"Oh, I see," Lorelai said looking down at her magazine for a moment and then returning her attention to Luke, "Wait, I thought you didn't know I was here."

"I didn't," Luke said, "I lied. The seeing you is just a benefit," he smiled, "I was coming home to see what we had to make for dinner."

"Absolutely nothing," Lorelai said truthfully.

"I had a hunch," Luke joked.

"What do you want?" Lorelai asked.

"I don't care, you decide."

"Does that mean that if I chose pizza you'd eat it?" Lorelai tested.

"I eat pizza," Luke answered defensively. Lorelai just looked at him knowingly, so Luke finished, "on occasion."

"But there's no occasion," Lorelai reasoned.

"We could make it an occasion." By now, Luke was sitting next to Lorelai on the couch, his arm resting on the back of the couch. He took this opportunity to lean in for a lingering kiss. He faced Lorelai who was sitting with her back against the armrest as he had one leg bent and on the couch and the other foot on the floor.

"Oh, yeah?" Lorelai smiled.

Luke leans in again, this time fully investing in the kisses. When they pulled apart a moment later, Luke said between kisses, "'Cause...I've...been thinking...about you...all day..."

"Oh, yeah?" Lorelai asked again.

"Yeah," Luke smiled back and kissed Lorelai a bit harder this time.

"Thinking," Lorelai began to break up _her_ words with kisses now, "up here?" Lorelai kissed Luke again as she pushed a hand through her hair and knocked off his hat. "Or thinking," she kissed him a bit longer this time, "down here?" She finished by resting her hand firmly on his crotch.

"God," Luke dragged out slowly, reacting to Lorelai's touch, sliding his tongue into Lorelai's mouth with the next kiss.

"Okay, but, Luke?" Lorelai reluctantly pulled away for a minute, "You know that we still can't, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Luke sighed.

"I mean, my offer from the other night still stands, but..."

"No, that's okay." Luke rested his hand on her cheek. "I should probably just go."

"Sorry, Hun. Pretty soon I'm gonna make this up to you...big time!" Lorelai smiled devilishly.

"I look forward to that," Luke grinned.

He started to get up from the couch, and Lorelai held his hand. "Hey, I can get April and we can grab some pizza, if you need to get back to the diner," she offered.

"Yeah. Okay. Thanks." Luke smiled. Lorelai nods her, 'you're welcome,' as Luke continues, "If I can get back there and help Lane and Caesar out for a bit longer, they can probably close up and I could probably make it home by 6:30."

"Okay," Lorelai said, "We'll wait and eat when you get home."

"Great. I'll bring a salad," Luke said.

"Okay," Lorelai rolled her eyes and continued. "We can watch a movie or something, when April finishes her homework, or whatever."

"Sure." Luke headed for the front door and Lorelai followed. "Okay, so," Luke changed into father mode, "you remember where the school is?"

"Yup," Lorelai assured.

"And it takes about thirty minutes to get there, so," Luke started.

"I should leave soon," Lorelai finished his thought.

"And April said to pick her up at the side door not the front door because it's closer to her locker. Also, apparently there's less 'weirdo-sports-people' to walk by that way." Luke used air quotes, much to Lorelai's amusement.

"I hear that," Lorelai sympathized.

"Oh, and she said not to beep 'cause that's embarrassing."

"Okay, Luke, I know how to do the cool pick-up." Lorelai laughed slightly.

"Right," Luke nodded as he realized, "of course you do." There was a short pause, "Oh, wait, what if she doesn't recognize your car. Maybe you should take my truck."

"Relax, Luke!" Lorelai laughed again.

"Right, sorry." He kissed her quickly and headed out the door. "Thank you," he called back before turning around once more at the bottom step.

"She knows the Jeep, Luke!" Lorelai assured, anticipating his comment.

"Right," he smiled, "Okay, bye." He got into the truck and drove off, waving good-bye out the window while Lorelai still stood at the open front door and waved back before heading back into the house and closing the door while she shook her head, amused.

* * *

Lorelai arrived at April's school five minutes before April walked into the parking lot and got into the Jeep. 

"Hi, Lorelai," she said cheerily, "I didn't know you were picking me up today."

"Well, neither did I until a little while ago. I offered, and your dad said that this way he'd be home earlier and we could watch a movie together and eat pizza. If you don't have too much to do, that is."

"Dad? Eat pizza? That doesn't happen often."

"He's bringing salad."

"Oh, okay...Tonight, I actually don't have much to do. My math teacher doesn't give homework the day of a test, and we had a test today -- it was so easy -- so no math. For Spanish I just have a worksheet. That will only take five minutes. In Bio we have to finish a lab report that we started in class, and my partner was a kid, Brian, who is _really_ quiet, so we didn't talk much and got a lot done -- so not much there. For English, we're supposed to finish reading To Kill a Mockingbird, but seriously that book is so good, and I finished it last night. Um, Social Studies," April stopped for a moment to think about it, "oh, right, I did that during the gym class I got out of today, just like we said." She smiled, waiting for Lorelai's approval.

"Oh, you didn't feel good?" Lorelai asked with a worried expression.

"Yeah, but, I mean, it wasn't awful."

"Oh, good."

"Especially since I got to finish that homework," she smiled.

Lorelai smiled back as they drove along.

"So, I'll definitely have time to watch a movie."

"Great," Lorelai said.

"Oh!" April started excitedly, "You know that movie from my birthday party? Pink - something?"

"Pretty in Pink?" Lorelai offered.

"Yeah, who was that?"

"Molly Ringwald," Lorelai answered, understanding April's question.

"Right, doesn't she have some other movies?"

"Yup, a few."

"Oh, do you have any?"

"Of course," Lorelai answered dramatically, as if it was completely obvious.

"Like what?"

Lorelai began a list, "Sixteen Candles...Breakfast Club..."

"Oh, yeah, can we watch Sixteen Candles tonight? I have this strange new stalker-ish obsession with her that requires that I look up random facts about her and tell them to my friends even though I can never remember her name for more than a few minutes, and I don't have the slightest clue what else she's been in," April explained quicky.

"Sure," Lorelai smiled, "I've had those..."

"Like," April started again, "Did you know that she turned down the role that Julia Roberts eventually got in Pretty Woman?"

"Actually, I did," Lorelai answered, "Did you know that she did the same thing with Demi Moore's role in Ghost?"

"Oh, really?" April asked, not waiting for verification, she finished with sarcasm, "Wow. Well, I guess both movies turned out _okay_ without her."

"Yeah," Lorelai joked.

"So? Sixteen Candles?" April checked.

"Sixteen Candles sounds good. So, it's only 4:45. We should wait to get the pizza, right? Unless you're really hungry. Or, hey? We could stop at Jojo's and get a really bad hot dog to tide us over if you're hungry now."

"Starved," April replied, "We eat lunch at twelve, and today was assparagas and tuna casserole."

"Ew," Lorelai replied very matter-of-factly (have you seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding, because I'm thinking about the way Toula said "ew" in response to her mother's "lambs in the kitchen, tigers in the bedroom" comment), "Jojo's it is."

* * *

A few hours later, Luke returned home, walking into the kitchen and kissing Lorelai who was sitting at the table reading the same Cosmo as earlier that day. 

"Hi," she greeted after the kiss.

"Hey," Luke smiled, "Where's April?"

"In here, I'm almost...Done!" She yelled from Rory's room, shutting the cover to her notebook.

"Oh, good." Luke walked towards April, giving her a one-armed hug around the shoulders. "So? Have you guys eaten yet?"

"Nope," Lorelai replied, still reading the magazine, "Pizza just got here." She pointed towards the counter where the box sat.

"We were waiting for you," April informed.

"Well, thank you," Luke said with a smile. "You almost ready?" Luke asked, directing this mostly towards Lorelai.

"Yup," Lorelai said, shutting the magazine slowly as she hurriedly finished the paragraph, "The many dilemmas of Jennifer Aniston can wait."

"Good," Luke said with an eye roll.

* * *

A few minutes later, in the living room, where the previews of the Sixteen Candles video tape already played, Lorelai was sitting on the far end of the couch, Luke in the middle, and April on the other end. All three enjoyed their dinner -- Luke his salad and the girls their pizza. 

"Lorelai, can't we just fast forward through the previews?" Luke complained.

"No. I never have, and I never will. I feel that before viewing a movie, once must acquaint oneself to the time period the movie was made. This can only be achieved...through previews."

"Makes since," April chimed in.

"Great. Now you're ganging up on me," Luke sighed.

"This, my friend, is what it's like to live with two women. It's time to get used to it." Lorelai patted him lightly on the stomach as she spoke. "Sorry." She said leaning in for a quick kiss.

As the movie started, Luke asked, "What is this anyway?"

"Sixteen Candles," April answered.

"Is it a chick-flick?"

"No!" Lorelai lied, acting appalled at the thought.

"Okay," Luke replied skeptically.

A few minutes into the movie, after hearing the sister worry about having her period on her honeymoon, Luke said, "Okay! This is definitely a chick-flick."

"I can't deny it," Lorelai sighed.

"You just did a minute ago," Luke pointed out.

"Then we were just watching the previews. I could deny it then."

"Okay, but..."

April cut him off, "Dad, sshhh! I'm trying to watch the movie."

"Right, sorry," he apologized.

Once they finished their dinner, they began to get comfortable on the couch. Lorelai's legs were pulled up next to her as she leaned into Luke's left shoulder. He had his left arm around her back. April, meanwhile, rested her head on a pillow at the end of the couch with her legs up next to her, feet resting on Luke's lap. Luke's right hand rested on April's socked feet comfortingly.

Within the hour, Luke's head fell to the side, resting on both the back of the couch and the top of Lorelai's head. She noticed and did not move, but whispered to April, "I think we lost him."

April sat up and looked over at Luke. "Yup, I'd say so," she chuckled.

They turned back to the movie and watched silently until the end when April said, "Well, that was pretty good. We'll have to watch The Breakfast Club sometime soon."

Getting no response, she turned to Lorelai who was now fast asleep too. Luke's left arm continued to hug Lorelai, but his right hand and Lorelai's left had managed to meet on Luke's lap. They held hands, fingers intertwined.

At this sight, April smiled. She grabbed the clicker, stopped the tape, and shut off the TV. She got up, bringing their plates to the kitchen and putting them into the sink. She returned to the living room, wondering whether she should wake them up. She took a blanket off a nearby chair, deciding to leave them. She covered them as best she could, shutting off the light by the couch. She walked back to Rory's room after stopping in the bathroom to brush her teeth. Leaving the kitchen light on, she closed the door and grabbed a book before getting into bed.

A couple hours later, Lorelai stirred on the couch. Looking around, she realized where she was.

"Luke," she whispered, rubbing his stomach, "let's go upstairs."

"Mmhmm," he mumbled.

"Come on, Babe," She repeated as he woke up slowly. She took the blanket off of them and dropped it on the couch as she pulled Luke's arm, coaxing him off the couch. He finally stood.

They now faced each other, standing closely, between the couch and the coffee table. Lorelai's hand still held Luke's. The other rested on his hip as she leaned up on her toes to kiss him softly. As soon as their lips met, Luke's arms wrapped around Lorelai's waist tightly. In response, Lorelai's arms were thrown around Luke's neck.

Suddenly, Luke pulled away. "Hey, where's April?" he inquired.

"Oh," Lorelai frowned, turning to look at the TV, "She must have gone to bed when the movie ended. I wonder how long ago I fell asleep," she said.

"When did I fall asleep?" Luke asked with a yawn.

"A _long_ time ago," Lorelai laughed.

"Yeah," Luke agreed. "That wasn't a very good movie. "

"Oh my God." Lorelai rolled her eyes. She headed for the stairs, pulling Luke behind her. "Clearly," she continued, "you need to sleep."

"Hey," he said as they stopped on the landing near the bottom of the stairs, rubbing Lorelai's back for a minute and kissing her lips, "I'll be up in a minute. I'm gonna go check on April first."

"Okay, Hun," Lorelai smiled, loving his roll as caring father. She let his hand go and walked upstairs as he turned and headed towards Rory's room.

When Luke slowly opened the door to the bedroom, he saw a small light on and April lying on her stomach on the bed with her head turned sideways, resting on top of an open book. Luke walked towards her and pulled the book out softly, avoiding waking his daughter. She stirred but did not wake up. Luke then set the alarm clock to 6:00 AM, knowing April would freak out if she overslept.

Then, after covering April with a blanket, returning the favor, and kissing her head, Luke shut off the light and closed the door, making his way back up to Lorelai.

* * *

When Luke walked into the bedroom, it was dark, but there was light coming from beneath the closed bathroom door. He walked towards the door and knocked quietly. "Lorelai, can I come in?" 

"Yup," she mumbled, clearly there was something in her mouth, "I'm just brushing my teeth." She finished, barely coherently, but Luke knew to enter.

He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist from the back as she brushed her teeth clad in plaid pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt, wearing what he could tell was no bra. His chin fell to rest on her left shoulder and his hands slowly made their way down into her oversized pants and began rubbing the outsides of her thighs, staring straight into her eyes through the mirror as she continued to brush.

"Luke!" Lorelai laughed, spitting out the last of the toothpaste in her mouth, rinsing off the brush and putting it in a nearby cup. "What's gotten into you lately?"

"Why?" he asked almost annoyed as she turned around in his arms once his arms returned to rest on her waist.

"I don't know," she tried to explain, "you seem more..._something _lately."

"What _something_?" Luke asked defensively.

"I don't know, you just seem more, like, wanting to touch me." She shrugged, not knowing exactly how to explain Luke's recent more cuddly behavior.

"Perish the thought that I want to touch my wife," Luke said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He removed his hands from Lorelai's waist, who now had her arms around his neck, pulled away and reached for his toothbrush.

"No, Luke, wait," Lorelai started apologetically, "Babe, I'm sorry. That's not what I meant." She took his toothbrush out of his hand and rubbed his upper arm.

Luke just looked at her, waiting for further explanation.

"You just never were very, I don't know, _lovey _all the time. Don't get me wrong, I love it and I love the attention because God knows I love attention, but it's just different. I don't want you to change because you think I want you to. I love all of you, just the way you are. Okay?"

By now Lorelai was back in Luke's arms, smiling up at him, her arms around his neck.

"Okay, I guess you're right. Maybe I've just felt kinda badly about how I didn't touch you or give you any attention for so long, that I'm over-compensating." Luke said this with a small frown.

"Luke, don't worry about that, it's behind us, okay? Act like _you --_ whatever _you _you want to be -- and I'll be happy with that, okay?" Lorelai said this assuringly with a smile.

"Mmhmm," Luke managed to get out as Lorelai's lips forcefully met his and her fingers immediately went to the buttons on his flannel shirt. She finished the buttons and pushed the shirt off, now running her hands up his stomach to his chest under his t-shirt.

In the next moment, they both stood there topless, shirts on the floor, pressed together, tongues dueling playfully.

As Lorelai pulls away for air, she says out of breath, "I'm almost done...I think we could do it in the shower if you want." She smiled mischievously.

Luke sighs, "I can't believe I'm gonna say no to you again, but it's almost twelve, and I've gotta get up at 4:00."

"Okay, you're right." Lorelai leaned down to pick up her shirt, kissing him one last time before walking into the bedroom and saying, "I mean it...big time!" She then turned on the light by the bed and climbed in.

Luke shut the door to the bathroom as he changed into sweatpants and brushed his teeth. He then shut off the bathroom light and climbed into the other side of the bed, rearranging the pillows. After Lorelai leaned down to give Luke a good-night kiss, she turned to shut off the light and snuggled up to him under the covers. "I love you, and I'm serious...it is gonna be _so_ good," she whispered as they both drifted off.

"I love you more," he joked.

Both fell asleep wearing smiles.


	5. What Did She Promise?

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from _Gilmore Girls_ are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

Okay, I don't have much to say this time. So, sorry it's been a while. Busy!!

So, the beginning of this kind of serves as just a way to mark time. I needed to get us into the next week, so I wrote the annoying beginning explanations. Enjoy. :)

* * *

The next night was occupied by Friday Night Torture Session, but Lorelai lived through it. She crawled home around 10:00 and fell into bed with Luke, who was already sleeping. He and April decided it would be wise to go to bed early. 

The next morning, both Luke and April woke up at 5:00. Luke nudged Lorelai awake after he took his shower and was greeted with an angry, "Mmm!"

"Come on, Lorelai. We have to get going. If you want to take a shower, you've got to get up."

"Fine," Lorelai whined, pulling herself out of bed. "Wait, why am I getting up at 5:30 on a Saturday?"

"April's swim meet in Massachusetts."

"Oh, yeah... Hooray!" She said with a yawn.

"Love that sarcasm," Luke smiled.

"I'll be down in a half hour."

"I'll have coffee."

"You'd better!" She said, stumbling tiredly towards the bathroom.

That night, the threesome crawled back into the house around 11:00. Lorelai collapsed onto the couch as April walked towards Rory's room. "G'night," she said.

"Night, April," Lorelai said, half asleep.

"Night, Hun. Great job today." Luke hugged April and kissed her on the cheek before sending her off to bed and moving towards the lump of Lorelai on the couch.

"Hey," Luke said, in hopes of getting Lorelai's attention.

Nothing.

"You awake?"

"No," Lorelai whispered.

"Let's go to bed."

"Here's perfect."

"Come on," Luke urged, sliding his arms beneath her and lifting her up to his chest. He carried her up the stairs and dumped her on to the bed.

"That was graceful," Lorelai commented.

"Thank you. You want to get changed?

"Not particularly."

Luke walked towards Lorelai's dresser and pulled out a pair of pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. He tossed it to her and she reluctantly put them on. Ten minutes later, they were both falling asleep, but before they did, Luke whispered, "Thanks for coming today."

* * *

The next day Luke went to work at the diner and April and Lorelai spent all day participating in Taylor's newest creation, "Stars Hollow Beautification Day." After a long day of town cleaning, Lorelai and April came home covered in dirt. They both took showers and went to their bedrooms. Lorelai picked up a magazine, but soon fell asleep. April finished some biology homework and dove under the covers herself. 

Luke came home around 9:00 to find both his girls exhausted and fast asleep.

* * *

Monday and Tuesday were crazy days at the Inn for Lorelai and her staff. A wedding party left Monday afternoon just as a big name business convention pulled in. Sookie transitioned smoothly from big flowery cakes to dignified caviar. Michel kept the computers from crashing in protest to all the bills it had to print. Lorelai left work at 11:00 both nights and arrived at 6:00 both mornings. Maids worked like maniacs to try to make the Inn look just like new for the traveling business men. Lorelai was relieved when they had their meeting and left the Inn the next day around 2:00 P.M. The Inn was then only 30 percent occupied and everyone was given some time to relax.

* * *

That night, Lorelai and April walked to Luke's for dinner. He stopped working once they arrived and ate with them. 

As they finished up their meals, Luke said he'd have to close up and that he'd meet them at home.

It being 8:00 by now, April said she'd stay to help him and then they could drive home together.

Lorelai decided to let father and daughter have some time together, so she left and stopped by Sookie's.

The moment Lorelai walked through the front door of the Bellville home, she found Martha crazy and running around the house in a pajama shirt, but regular, cute, little, corduroy pants. She was carrying a red fire truck toy, followed by a screaming Davey and a yelling Jackson, Sookie nowhere in sight.

"What's going on in here?" Lorelai yelled over the noise.

"Oh. Lorelai," Jackson breathed out loudly, out of breath. "What's up?"

"I asked you first," Lorelai scoffed, snatching Martha off of her feet as she and Davey ran by. She took the truck from Martha and handed it to Davey who stood at her feet. Martha cried even louder in Lorelai's arms once the toy was extracted. Lorelai looked at Davey and spoke kindly, kneeling down to his level. "Go take the truck into your room and hide it, okay?" She smiled and he nodded vigorously. She continued, "And then change into your pjs and pick out a story for Daddy to read to you, okay?"

Davey smiled at her sweetly and said, "Okay. Goodnight, Auntie Lorelai."

"Night, Honey." She smiled, ruffling his hair as he walked away, and stood up, Martha on her hip, still crying. Jackson stood watching. Lorelai looked towards him as he smiled at her gratefully.

Lorelai then turned her attention towards Martha. "Hey? Martha?" Martha wiped a fist across her eye as she continued to sniffle uncontrollably. "Hey?" Lorelai smiled at her, "What were you doing," she joked with Martha as she walked with her towards the kitchen, "stealing Davey's toy? Did you think you were funny? Did you? Huh?" Lorelai spoke sweetly, poking her in the belly playfully with each sentence. "I thought you were funny. I did!" Lorelai smiled and so did Martha as she continued to wipe her eyes. "All that running around," Lorelai's voice exaggerated and emphasized every word, "Woah! You must be thirsty! Do you want something to drink?" Martha just nodded, one arm wrapped around Lorelai's shoulder, hand on her back, and the other hand resting on her chest. "Okay," Lorelai smiled still, "How about some apple juice? Does that sound good?" Martha nodded again, not smiling, just recovering from the tears and chaos. "Yeah," Lorelai agreed with Martha, "apple juice sounds good."

She continued to carry Martha around, Jackson just watching admiringly. Lorelai opened a cabinet and took out a sippey-cup. Removing its cover, she opened the refrigerator. and reached in for the juice. Pouring some into the red, plastic cup, she followed it up with some water from a jug in the refrigerator. She snapped the cover back on as Martha reached for it. After returning the water and juice to the fridge, she turned to Jackson as Martha sipped contently. "So, _what's_ going on? Where's Sookie?" Lorelai asked, eyes wide.

"Well," Jackson started as they both sat down in the living room, Lorelai on a chair with Martha on her lap and Jackson on the couch, "Sookie was home here for while, but around 7:30, Michel called..."

"Oh boy," Lorelai rolled her eyes, "Nothing good can come from 'Michel called'!"

Jackson continued, "and apparently a guest called downstairs and bribed Michel to bribe Sookie to come in to make them her famous 'Mud Pie.' The offer was too good to pass up, I guess. So she's been gone since then."

"And 'since then' all hell broke loose," Lorelai finished.

"Sshhh!" Jackson said, worried, pointing at Martha, "She'll start saying that!"

"Right, sorry. So, how did this all happen in half an hour?" She asked perplexed, rubbing Martha's back as she leaned her head against Lorelai's chest, falling asleep.

"Well," Jackson spoke more quietly, "I was getting Martha changed..." Lorelai nodded, now understanding why she was half in pajamas. "...and I put her down when Davey came in, pushing the truck and making siren noises. Then Martha saw him and took the truck, running out into the living room. Davey followed her yelling, and I followed him yelling, and that's when you walked in."

"I see," Lorelai nodded "Well, I think everything will be fine now, so..."

"Daddy?" came a call from Davey's room. "Are you coming in to read the story soon?"

"Yup," Jackson called, "Coming, Son." He turned to Lorelai then and said, "Well, thank you so much. I think I can take it from here." He stood up from the couch and reached down to take Martha from Lorelai.

"That's okay," Lorelai said standing up, holding Martha in her arms again, "I've got her. You go read to Davey."

"Okay. Thanks," he said, leaning in to kiss Martha's head and then making his way into Davey's room.

Lorelai picked the cup up from where Martha had dropped it on the couch and put it on the coffee table. She then brought Martha into her bedroom and put her gently into her crib. Next, grabbing the discarded pj bottoms, she took off Martha's pink corduroy pants and put on the blue and white cloud bottoms.

After covering Martha with a blanket and tossing the pants into a nearby laundry basket, she stood looking down at Martha in her crib sentimentally. Lorelai reached in and softly brushed a strand of hair out of Martha's eye, staring at her longingly. Lorelai smiled and walked towards the bedroom door. After shutting off the light in Martha's room, she walked past Davey's room and peeked in. Making eye contact with Jackson as he read aloud, she mouthed, "Bye," and waved. He smiled in recognition.

Lorelai exited the house, smiling and shaking her head. She hugged her coat tightly around her, although the air was not overly chilling, and walked home, finding that April and Luke had yet to return.

Lorelai climbed the stairs to the bedroom after passing quickly through the house, smiling devilishly as she formulated her plan.

* * *

About 10 minutes later, Luke and April walked through the front door. Luke asked, "Lorelai?" seeing few lights on in the house. 

"I'm upstairs," came her response.

"Okay," he yelled back from the bottom of the staircase thinking, _"Hm, 9:00 seems early for _her_ to be going to bed."_

Luke then followed April into the kitchen. As she took a bottle of water from the fridge and an apple from a bowl on the counter, Luke asked, "What are you going to do now?"

"Well," April replied, "I have an English test tomorrow that I should probably study for a bit, and then I'm going to sleep. Today was long."

"Okay, then I guess I'll head upstairs. Unless, do you need any help?"

"I'm good I think." April smiled. She walked over to Luke, throwing her arms around his shoulders. "Thanks for being here, Dad."

He hugged her back and smiled. As he pulled away, he said, "Thanks for wanting me around." He turned and walked down the hall a ways before turning and saying, "I love you, kid."

"Love you, too," she replied, "See you in the morning."

He nodded and waved a hand. **(Okay, so now I'm thinking "The Lorelais' First Day at Yale" Luke saying bye to Lorelai outside the diner. This shot ends up being the Scott Patterson shot in the opening credits for the rest of the show. Anyway, that's the sort of wave that I'm thinking about.)**

As Luke walked down the hallway upstairs, towards his and Lorelai's room he began talking to her. "I was surprised you were in bed already 'cause it's usually you saying, 'Come on, Old Man, it's only 9:00.' Anyway, I figured I'd join you. April's going to study in her room because I guess tomorrow she has an English..." Luke stood in the doorway, not speaking as he stared into the bedroom.

He could see two candles lit on each night stand providing the room's only lights. Then, though, his eyes focused on Lorelai who laid facing him on the bed, laying on her side with her head resting on her hand, which was supported by her elbow resting on the pillows. She smiled sweetly. As he approached her, he noticed her hair in a French braid. He knew she knew that a French braid was one of those strange things that turned him on. He began smiling back and said, "What's going on?"

Lorelai replied shyly, smiling, "Hopefully nothing else because I was hoping you'd start taking things off."

Luke returned to the doors and closed them before turning the lock. He then returned to the side of the bed. This time he took full observation of what Lorelai wore, only noticing when he walked in that she wasn't wearing much. It was a red lace, semi-see through, tank top and the same color red silk panties. He sat on the edge of the bed, taking off his boots.

Lorelai sat up and rubbed his back while beginning to unbutton his shirt. "No way are you using any excuses tonight, buddy." With this she leaned in to suck on Luke's ear as she removed his flannel shirt. Next came his white t-shirt. She only let him pull away momentarily to remove his pants.

He kneeled back on the bed, bringing his lips to hers. As the kiss intensified, he reached his hand behind her to begin to lower her onto her back. As he touched her lower back, though, he discovered that the panties were in fact a thong. He let out, "God," and she pulled him onto the bed, smiling.

Luke now partially lay on top of Lorelai. He was clad in only boxers, and his groin pressed against hers as they kissed. She lay on the bed with her legs spread apart and wrapped around Luke's lower body. Her feet caressed his calves as they kissed.

Luke's tongue controlled their kiss. He could taste that she'd brushed her teeth in preparation because her mouth tasted only of mint, no remnants of the cheeseburger, fries, and coffee she'd had for dinner. He licked her bottom lip as he pulled a spaghetti strap of her tank top down her shoulder. As the strap fell slightly more, her right breast was revealed. Luke pulled the fabric down to expose the rest and attached himself to it.

Lorelai's left hand touched his head. Realizing his hat was still on, she slid it off and tossed it to the floor. She tangled her fingers in his hair and sighed, "Luke, you really are too good to me."

He didn't reply, he only began pulling down the other strap. Because of Lorelai's raised arm, though, he couldn't. As she lowered it, he smiled at her.

Luke then pulled both straps down far enough for Lorelai to remove her arms from them. With this, Luke pulled the shirt down to her stomach.

As he began kissing and licking her chest again, she reached between them with her right hand and into the back of Luke's boxers with her left hand, squeezing his right butt cheek. Meanwhile, her right hand pilgrimaged into the front of his shorts, taking his not yet hardened member in her hand. It didn't take long for her thumb stroking him in the palm of her hand to get him ready for her.

He moved back to her mouth and moaned against her lips. As they kissed, she pulled both hands from him and put her arms around his neck.

Luke then reached between them. He moved the bit of material of her thong aside just enough to feel her wetness with his index finger. After inserting his finger deep within her for a minute, he began playing with her clit, rubbing lightly. He knew this method was not quick for her, but he didn't mind. He stuck with it for a few minutes, but he could tell that it was not completely satisfying her by her high level of attention in the kiss.

Soon, he pulled away from the kiss and lowered himself between her legs. Now using his index finger to keep the thong's material aside, his tongue came into contact with her and she gasped. A smile played at his lips, but he continued to tongue her clit, every so often moving to her opening and tasting the wetness even more.

Soon enough, his own arousal was so evident that he began wanting to speed up the process. As his right hand held the fabric and his lips and tongue satisfied her, his left hand reached to hold her right. This was a gesture she was never sorry to make.

Before long, she felt a familiar tingling sensation before her orgasm hit full force, and she yelled loudly, full of lust, "Oh! Luke! Yes! Yes!"

Downstairs April heard a variation of Lorelai's voice yelling frantically. Quickly understanding what she was hearing, April gasped with a disgusted expression, "Oh jeez!" and lunged for her ipod that sat on the bed. Turning it on full blast and inserting the headphones into her ears, she sat back down at the desk, stared into her English text book, and mumbled, "So much for not having to worry about it."

Back upstairs, Lorelai continued to gasp contently until the sensation died down and she pulled Luke up to kiss him again.

Although the taste of herself in his mouth was not something that she particularly enjoyed, right now she didn't care. She held onto Luke's back as they kissed.

Soon, she slid her hands down to his waistline and began removing his boxers. He helped her out by kicking them off his legs and returning to kiss her. She grabbed him, now fully erect, and began pulling him towards her.

He knelt between her legs, holding himself in his left hand and once again moving her thong to the side with his right hand. Then, rocking forward on his knees, he pushed into her. Waiting a moment for her to get comfortable, Luke kissed Lorelai once again.

Ten minutes, and much more pleasure for both of them, later, they lay sprawled across the still-made bed, not touching at all except for Lorelai's right and Luke's left hand clasped together between them. Both lay with their legs spread slightly apart, breathing hard. Lorelai's thumb rubbed the back of Luke's hand. Luke's right arm was bent and rested beneath the back of his head. Lorelai's left arm was also bent, but it lay across her stomach, playing with the tank top that still remained pooled there. She smiled, "Wow."

"Yeah," Luke replied.

"Has it ever been that great before?"

"I don't know," Luke admitted.

"Hmm," Lorelai pondered, "I told you it would be good." Smiling, she rolled towards Luke, resting her head on his chest, his left arm now wrapped around her. "Brrr," she said, "I'm cold." She cuddled closer to Luke and threw her left leg over his left.

"Hold on," Luke said, sitting up.

She sat up with him as they pulled the covers down. Luke began to crawl under, but before Lorelai did, she removed both the top and bottom of her lingerie and held them over the side of the bed, dropping them into the pile of Luke's discarded clothes. "Is that better?" he asked, hugging her close.

"Yup," she smiled, "perfect."

"Hey, did you change the sheets?" Luke wondered out loud.

"Yeah," she said.

"Why?" he asked, "I did that on Sunday."

"I like how new sheets feel, especially when we sleep naked."

"How did you know we'd be sleeping naked?"

"Please, Luke," she began cockily, "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist me once you saw me like that."

"Oh you did, huh?" he asked with a laugh.

"Yup," Lorelai responded confidently.

"Rat," he said.

"But a loveable Rat," she joked.

"I think we've just proved that," Luke said. He kissed her forehead. "Did I tell you I like your hair like that?"

"Oh," she mused, "once or twice before, but not tonight."

"Oh," he said, "well I do."

In each others arms, they fell asleep.

* * *

At 5:00 the next morning, a loud buzzing broke the couple's sleep. The alarm clock meant to wake Luke, instead woke Lorelai, a common occurrence. She turned and rested her head on Luke's chest and her hand on his stomach. 

Lightly, patting him, she whispered, "Luke, wake up."

"Mmhmm," he mumbled, wrapping his arm around her.

"Shut off the alarm," she groaned.

"Oh, sorry," Luke said, rolling to his side of the bed and hitting the snooze button.

They both lay awake for a moment. Soon, Luke started to slowly move out of bed, unaware if Lorelai had fallen back to sleep and trying not to disturb her in case she had.

"No!" She whined as he left the bed.

"Go back to sleep. I have to shower."

"Mmm," she moaned back, but as he crossed the room, still naked, Lorelai's eyes followed him and she said, "Nice butt."

"Quiet," he said before closing the bathroom door.

A few minutes later, Lorelai heard the shower turn on. As she waited a moment, she rested her hand on her stomach and unconsciously whispered, "Please." She lay there, eyes wide and staring at the ceiling for a minute and then got out of bed. She shut off the alarm completely so that it would not turn on again and made her way to the bathroom groggily.

After sneaking into the shower behind Luke, she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his back. "Hey, Baby."

"Lorelai," he began to scold.

"No, we don't have to," she explained. "I just wanted to be near you."

"Yeah, right," he said turning to her. "You say that like you don't know that the minute you step in this shower with me you're gonna get it."

With this, he pinned her against the wall, completely pressing against her, and kissed her mouth hard. She smiled despite the kiss. Then, she extracted herself from his grasp enough to reach between them and hold him. She stroked him as they kissed for a while until he gasped, "Stop!"

"Why?" she asked, knowing the answer.

"Because," he started. Upon seeing her smiling face, he realized that she knew what he was talking about and grunted, "Shut up."

He then pulled her left leg onto his right hip and, pinning her against the wall again, plunged into her. "Oh!" she gasped, biting his shoulder as he thrust deeply into her. Before long, he exploded within her. As he stopped, he realized she had not received equal pleasure. "You didn't?" he asked.

"Sshh," She kissed him, "it's okay."

"No," he said, pulling out of her and placing his hand there in place, wanting to pleasure her.

"Stop," Lorelai said, more forcefully than she meant to, as she pushed his arm away.

His head snapped up and he stared at her as if he worried he had invaded her.

"Sorry," she sighed, "I didn't mean it like that, but it's okay. I don't need to; I just wanted to pay you back." She referred to her promise to repay him for the night of pampering and waiting for her.

"I thought that's what last night was." He smiled, kissing her neck.

She hugged his torso as she said, "Please, last night you did more for me than I did for you."

He didn't respond. She pulled away from him and kissed his lips quickly. They both washed up, got out of the shower, prepared for a day of work, and went downstairs.

It being 6:30 by the time Lorelai got downstairs, Luke had already left for the diner, but April sat at the table in the kitchen, looking through her English book and eating a Pop Tart. Lorelai sat down at the table, unfolding the newspaper, and said, "Good morning."

April replied but did not make eye contact.

Lorelai wondered, as she read the paper and ate her own Pop Tart, why the usually chatty girl was so quiet. "Luke said you were studying last night. Did you get much done?"

"Uh? Yeah," April replied.

"Sorry we couldn't watch a movie last night, but I guess it worked out 'cause you had to study and Luke and I were kinda tired and went to sleep early." Lorelai watched April flinch. For a moment she wondered why and then thought, _"No, she couldn't know. Was I that loud?" _

"Did you...?" she asked. April just looked at her. "Oh my God," Lorelai gasped, looking down and covering her eyes with her right hand as she rested her right elbow on the table. "I'm _so_ sorry! Oh my God."

April still said nothing.

"And after I promised this wouldn't be an issue. Wow. I'm so sorry." Lorelai got up and turned away from April, bracing herself against the counter, putting both hands on its edge and looking downward before closing her eyes as April said, "It's fine. It's your house."

"Huh," Lorelai almost snorted. "Yeah."

"So?" April said.

"What should we do about this?" Lorelai asked, turning back to April and crossing her arms across her chest.

"Not tell Dad?" April suggested, "Or at least not let him talk to me about it."

"Okay, and then we just try to forget it?"

"Sounds good," April said.

"God, I'm so sorry," Lorelai sighed.

"That's okay," April laughed.

"Is Luke coming back to bring you to school, or do you need a ride?" Lorelai asked.

"He's coming back," she smiled.

"Okay, well, then I'll go to work. I'll see you tonight. Good luck on that test."

"Thanks, see ya," April replied as Lorelai grabbed her purse and coat.

Lorelai yelled, "Bye," before walking out to the jeep. Sitting in the car, she banged her forehead against the steering wheel once, before shaking her head slowly at herself and then driving away.


	6. We Are Family

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from _Gilmore Girls_ are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

_Hey, I thought I'd add this today since I skipped last week and it's shorter anyway. _

_Also, thank you to gilmorefanforever who has reviewed every chapter. I know I said I'd never beg for reviews, and I'm not going to. However, that doesn't mean I don't like them. And it means a lot to me that you'd take a minute to do that every time. :) You make up more than 25 percent of my reviews. It also doesn't hurt that you seem to like my story. Always a plus. And now that I've said that I feel bad because there are a few other people who've done quite a bit of reviewing to. Thank you! And to those of you who are just reading, that's fine. I can't be annoyed because when I read stories I don't always review. _

_So, anyway. I kind of like this chapter actually. I hope you all feel the same._

* * *

Lorelai entered Luke's partially filled diner at about 11:00 AM, intending to take a twenty minute coffee break from the inn. She plopped down at the counter, leaning on her arms which were folded on the counter. She waited for Luke to emerge. He carried two plates from the kitchen. As he walked towards the food's destination, a corner table, he said, "Hey, how's your day going?" 

"Well," Lorelai scoffed, turning on her stool to follow Luke. He looked back at her and, after setting the plates down on the table and almost smiling at his customers, he moved to sit on the stool next to hers.

"What? Your day's not going well?" He asked, furrowing his brow as they sat facing each other on the stools.

Lorelai began, "You could say that."

"Why?" Luke dragged this word out wondering what he could possibly be getting himself into.

"Okay, so, I guess the whole morning hasn't been bad. I mean, the beginning was nice..." She winked suggestively at him before continuing as he turned red and quickly glanced around the diner to see if anyone was listening, "and once I got to the inn everything was normal." Lorelai shrugged and continued, "Michel set up a trap against my will that poured maple syrup and then flour onto a guest. The guest had said repeatedly that the inn's website --designed by Michel -- was 'girly.'"

"Michel tar and feathered a guest with maple syrup and flour?" Luke asked with a laugh.

Lorelai nodded, continuing without missing a beat, "He continuously threatened with this idea yesterday and every time I'd say, "Michel, you do it and I'll pull a Lizzie Borden on you,' but I don't think he understood the reference. And if you add that to the fact that he knows the inn would not run smoothly without him, and especially not with him lying dead on the floor with an axe sticking out of him, I highly doubt my threats did a thing to stop his threats. So then, I have a guest who's running around all syrupy and powdery followed by about five maids trying to clean whatever dripped, flaked, crusted, or fell off of him up off of the floor, not to mention about fifteen other guests curious as to why Michel was laughing evilly behind the desk as the 'trapped' guest ranted and raved. Then! To top it all off...I find out Sookie was supposed to be making _pancakes_ this morning, but guess which ingredients she was out of."

"Flour and syrup?" Luke guessed while Lorelai took a breath and continued.

"Exactly! You can't have pancakes without syrup and certainly not without flour."

"Not good ones," Luke said, making a face.

"So, Sookie was furious at Michel, but when she came out of the kitchen to ask if we'd seen any syrup or flour lying around -- as if she'd just misplaced that much flour and syrup --she saw the 'trapped' guest and the cackling Michel, and she started hitting Michel on the arm repeatedly, yelling, 'You need to learn that your actions have consequences! You need to be punished!' So, once we decided the guests would have some variation of egg for breakfast -- no flour or syrup required -- she was satisfied and calmed, or at least acted that way for my sanity. After that, I called the night manager, Robert, to come in and I sent Michel home and told him to do the night shift tonight because by then, thank God, 'girly guy' will have checked out. So, then I made sure everyone was happy and calm and everything was cleaned up and I decided it was time for some coffee and some Luke. And as I was leaving, Sookie was on the phone with our supplier, ordering an overnight shipment of flour and syrup to replace the losses."

"Wow!" Luke smiled, now patting Lorelai's knee and moving behind the counter to wipe it with his wet rag as their conversation continued, "If that was the 'normal' portion of your morning, I'd hate to think about what else happened between the good stuff," he winked, "and the nutty stuff."

"Well," she said, "that's exactly it. It's awful to think about." She shook disgustedly.

Luke just waited for her to continue and impatiently asked, "So?"

"Okay, well," she stalled, looking around. Kirk sat two stools down, eating toast and glancing at them momentarily -- obviously listening to every word. "You know?" she said, "This may not be something you want to hear in here." She hinted with her eyes.

"Okay," Luke almost asked, looking over at Kirk. Dropping the cloth, he walked towards the curtain, motioning with his head for Lorelai to follow.

As they went behind the curtain and up the stairs, Kirk could be heard yelling, "You know, Luke? Anything you can say or hear in front of Lorelai you should be able to talk about in front of me!" Getting no response he finished, "I thought we were better friends than that!"

Lorelai and Luke stood in Luke's old apartment by the couch. The apartment was still furnished the same, but contained slightly less stuff and looked much less lived in.

"So, tell me what happened," Luke demanded.

"Well, okay, this morning I was sitting with April and she wasn't saying much..."

"Yeah," Luke agreed, "that's how she was with me too."

"Then," Lorelai continued, "I guess I made some comment about us going to sleep early last night or something and then she looked really uncomfortable. So, as it turns out, she knows what we did," Lorelai paused, then felt compelled to add, "last summer."

"Last summer?" Luke asked, "What did we do last summer?"

"No," Lorelai shook her head as if she was trying to clear the reference from the conversation. "She knows what we were doing last night. She...heard us." She finished softly. Before Luke could react, she said, "And I guess it's not that big of a deal, but I mean it's certainly uncomfortable. Like I said before -- awful to think about."

"Oh my God!" Luke said, covering his forehead with one hand.

"Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction."

"Oh my God!" he said again, this time crashing down onto the couch.

Lorelai sat next to him and rubbed his back gently for a moment until he said, "How could she have heard us?"

"Thin walls?" Lorelai suggested. "Plus," she said, "I think we were pretty loud."

"We were?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, I guess we didn't realize."

"No, _we_ were?" he hinted.

"Okay, fine. _I_ was," Lorelai sighed.

"Yeah," he agreed. "So? How was she about it?"

"Oh," Lorelai began, "She was April. She suggested we just forget it as long as I made sure you didn't say anything to her."

"Oh," he said and nodded.

They sat quietly for a minute until Luke said, "Hey, why is it always you who has these conversations with her?"

"I don't know," Lorelai admitted. "Just the right place at the right time, I guess...Or the wrong place at the wrong time -- depending on how you look at it."

"Yeah," he agreed. "And I don't know if it's just me, but does it seem like all your 'talks' end in her asking you not to tell me about whatever happened or whatever you were talking about?"

"I don't know," Lorelai said again. "I guess it's just that whole, she's a girl/I'm a girl, thing. And, Luke, don't get me wrong about this because I love you for it," she rubbed his back again, looking straight into his blue eyes, "but you're not a girl, you're a guy."

"Well," Luke laughed, returning her smile, "that explains a lot, now doesn't it?"

"You know?" Lorelai said after leaning in and kissing him suggestively, "These are the times I'm glad you're a guy."

Luke laughed and they continued to kiss, their tongues slowly becoming involved. Luke had a hand on both sides of Lorelai, under her arms, resting high on her torso. Both thumbs lightly rubbed the outsides of her breasts through the cotton fabric of her dress as they kissed.

"I have to get back to the diner," Luke whispered, sighing, as he rested his forehead against hers with his eyes closed.

"No you don't," Lorelai stated simply, before pulling him down by the collar onto the couch to lie on top of her. She kissed his mouth hard again and started to undo the buttons on his flannel shirt.

Twenty minutes later, they both lay, in a way that should have been uncomfortable, on the couch together, still naked and cuddling.

"Hey, Lorelai?" Luke asked clearly deep in thought.

"Yeah?" Her voice was still husky from their recent activity.

"Is it just me or does it seem like we've been doing this a lot lately?"

"Having sex?" she checked.

"Yeah."

"Actually," she turned her head towards Luke to look at him, "I was thinking that too. Like, it seems like whenever we aren't busy or with April, we're either talking about, thinking about, or _having_ sex."

"Yeah," Luke agreed, "Have we ever done it this much?"

"I don't think so."

"It seems like we are less busy now or something. Did we just spend more time working before, or something?"

"It _seems_ that way, but I don't think that's what it is. Here's what I think it might be. One: We're feeling _extra_ reproductive these days. Two: We're still recovering from our time of withdrawal, and slash or...Three: this one's a little more complicated..."

Luke prepared himself for what he was sure would be a lengthy explanation.

"When we were dating -- or not living together, we wanted to see each other all the time, but it wasn't always a given that we'd be together every night because we went home to different places. And then, we maybe felt like we needed to do something special, like a date, all the time in order to see each other. But now, we're always gonna be together, which is a _good_ thing," she smiled brightly at him, "but it means we don't _have_ to go on dates now, we can just hang at home. And, you know what that means?"

"What?"

"It means we have more time because so much is not taken up by dates. And, since we're always together it seems like we don't do _special_ things together anymore because there's no more worrying about trying to please the other person because we've already promised that this is it. So...I think if you put together the facts that one: we have more time, and two: we still want to have some special 'us' time, it results in large amounts of sex slash sex-talk because right now what else do we do to show how much we love each other. Also, what else do we really do together in general?"

"Jeez," Luke said, "I guess you're right, but when you put it like that it seems like our marriage is boring or something."

"I'm not bored! Are you _bored_?" Lorelai asked almost frightened.

"No! It's just what it sounded like. I could never be bored with you."

She smiled, " I don't think we're bored, I just think our marriage doesn't have much excitement right now because we're between the new and exciting of learning each other, since we've known each other for so long anyway, and the new and exciting of kids because we both have one and we don't have one together yet."

Luke hugged her tightly, trying to reassure her that they'd have kids. "So, what should we do?"

"I think," she said, "we should continue to have sex, first of all, since you know, that's how babies are made, and second, we should do more things together."

"Like what?" Luke asked.

"I don't know. Go on dates? Watch movies, have dinner with our friends, Ooo! picnics! I'd even go camping if you really want to. I mean, you do my crazy things with me. But also, it might be nice to just be able to sit around and talk about nothing and anything sometimes."

"I agree," Luke said, "but all that's just kind of tough with April."

"Yeah, that's okay though, we can just do the stuff with April when she wants to and alone when she's with friends. All the stuff, obviously, except the sex part, 'cause man, I never want to go through that weird conversation we had this morning again."

"That sounds good to me. And she wouldn't really be able to go on dates with us," Luke pointed out.

"Yeah, she could, they'd just be more 'family dinners' than dates."

He smiled at her, "We really are family now, aren't we?"

"We always have been, Babe, we just hadn't started acting like it until very recently."

"Okay, good. I'm glad we got a chance to talk today."

"Me too. Funny how communication really seems to work, isn't it?" Lorelai joked.

"Yeah," he said, "they weren't making that one up."

At this point they both started to get off the couch and search out their strewn clothing, both needing to attend to their businesses.

* * *

Later that night, the three sat in the kitchen eating Luke's lasagna. 

"So?" Lorelai asked, "Do you have anything planned for this weekend, April?"

"Not really, she admitted, "But I was actually going to ask if my friend Jenny could stay over on Saturday night. We have a Social Studies project to work on."

"Oh, well," Luke started skeptically, but before he could deny her, Lorelai intruded,

"Of course she can." Lorelai just nodded at Luke, before turning back to April, "Our house is yours. From now on, you don't have to ask, just make sure you tell us so we, or _I_, can be on company behavior." She laughed, but then realized that what she had said, which was meant as a joke, actually came out as a slight reference to the previous night's activities. She flinched, but reattached the smile quickly.

"Right," Luke agreed, "of course that's not a problem. As long as it's okay with her parents, since they don't know us."

"Okay, great, thanks. I'll go call her." April jumped up, put her plate in the sink and bounced into the living room.

"Thanks, Lorelai," Luke let out a held breath.

"Sure. Why were you gonna say no?" she wondered aloud.

"Well, I'm new at this, I still don't know what you're supposed to say no to and what you're supposed to say yes to."

"It's okay, Hun, that's why you have me...among other things." She winked and rested her hand on his on top of the table. "And, just so you know, I'd say it's safe to say yes to things that involve one other girl, have to do with school, and take place under our roof while we're home. You can't get much safer."

"Okay," Luke smiled.

April returned and said, "Okay, she can come."

"Great!" Luke said, "So do I pick her up?"

"No, her mom is gonna drop her off at 3:00 on Saturday."

"Sounds good," Lorelai said, "Does her mom want someone to be home with you guys, 'cause I can come home from the inn by that time, easy."

Luke sat in wonder of this conversation, thinking about how he never would have thought of whether the girl's parents would mind if she and April were home alone. It was times like this that he was overjoyed to have a woman as thoughtful and experienced in the parenting world as Lorelai by his side.

"Umm," April said, "I'll have to ask."

"Okay," Lorelai smiled, "let me know."

"So, what are we doing tomorrow night?" April asked a minute later.

"Well," Luke said, "Lorelai has dinner with her parents."

"Oh, right." April nodded.

"Actually, Lorelai stated, "tomorrow night we're doing a little party thing 'cause it's Rory's birthday, but it's not gonna be big or anything. Just us plus cake. But Mom wanted you guys to come." Lorelai said it nervously before finishing, "but I mean, you don't have to, but it might be nice."

"Oh, man..." Luke sighed, sitting back in his chair and readjusting his hat.

April, though, said, "Yeah, okay, that sounds great!"

"I'm not sure I'd go that far," Lorelai joked. "I, for one, would be pleased with civil."

April, not knowing how true this was, just laughed.

* * *

_Dun, dun, dun..._


	7. Worst Fears

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from Gilmore Girls are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

_Disclaimer number 2: Emily's "hey, dude, and yo" speech do not reflect my own opinions, only the one's I expect Emily probably had. :)_

_For some reason, this chapter was painful to edit. So, hopefully there are no embarrassing mistakes in it.:) If there are, oh well, I'm too annoyed with spelling and grammar check to care at the moment. _

_So, here's goes. Friday Night Dinner._

* * *

Lorelai was getting ready for dinner around 6:00 the next night, when April knocked on her bedroom door. 

"Hey, Lorelai," she greeted.

Lorelai turned toward April as she sat on a chair in front of the vanity mirror, applying make-up. She was putting on lip gloss as she asked, "What's up?"

"Well, I was just wondering what I should wear. I know it's formal, but how formal is formal?"

"Well," Lorelai said, putting down her lip gloss and standing up. "Let me come downstairs with you and see."

"Okay," April agreed.

Before both women left the room, Lorelai grabbed a pair of black heels to match her red, knee-length dress that's low, V neckline was lined with small black flowers. The dress was cinched at the waist by a piece of black fabric (part of the dress) that tied in the back. Lorelai hit the light switch, darkening the bedroom, and followed April into Rory's room.

April opened the closet and said, "That's everything."

"And it's plenty," Lorelai assured, "because I like this one." She pulled out a light purple, cotton dress with darker purple lace around the bottom and the same color ribbon that hung from two loops at the dresses waist. **(Yes, I know, I know. She didn't have any dresses when Luke asked her on the show. Just go with me here people. Take comfort in the fact that I'm just as big a Gilmore freak as all of you. I'm not making a mistake; I'm simply tweaking the truth. :) Plus, remember "Purple Nardini"? )** Its sleeves were 3/4 length and it had a collar like a button down shirt, but with only two buttons. Lorelai smiled at April and said, "What do you think?"

"I like it...with these?" She asked, holding up a pair of back ballet flats.

"Looks good," Lorelai said. "I'll let you change, I'm gonna call Luke and see when he'll be here because we need to leave pretty soon."

"Okay," she smiled, "and Lorelai?" Lorelai turned back toward April with a questioning expression. "That dress looks really nice on you."

"Oh, thanks," Lorelai said with a smile, "but I feel like I'm trying to get away with murder here." She pointed to the neckline that left little to the imagination. April just shrugged, as if to say, _"Who cares? It looks good, right?"_

"But you know what!" Lorelai declared, "I'm probably not going to look good in these dresses in the near future, so I might as well live it up while my stomach's still flat, right?" Lorelai finished the declaration loudly, and with excitement.

"Right!" April declared at the same level of volume and energy, while laughing.

Lorelai smiled and closed the bedroom door as she began to search for the phone. As she picked it up off the counter, near the coffee maker, Luke burst through the front door. "Hey," he said, heading straight for the stairway, "I'm late, I know. I have a reason. It involves Kirk and a giant rubber cleaver, need I say more?"

"Nope," Lorelai answered quickly as she followed him upstairs. However, she immediately reconsidered and added a second later, "Actually, tell me later."

"I have to shower before we leave, how long do I have?" Luke asked.

"About fifteen minutes," Lorelai said, looking over at the clock while Luke undressed in front of her in the bathroom.

"As much as I'm enjoying this little show," she said, head tilted to the side as she leaned one hand against the bathroom counter top and rested the other on her hip, "I'm going to go get you something to wear."

"Thanks," he leaned in to kiss her before getting in the shower. Luke shampooed his hair, lathered himself with soap, rinsed off quickly, and jumped out.

"Jeez!" he gasped as he threw open the shower curtain and saw a smiling Lorelai sitting on the counter next to his pile of clothes, staring straight at him. "What are you doing?" he scolded.

"Just enjoying," she laughed as he realized, "Where's my towel, Lorelai?" not seeing it on its hook next to the shower.

She held it up for him to see.

"Lorelai," he sighed, "come on, we don't have time for this."

She just smiled as he stood completely naked, uncovered, and dripping wet in the tub. Not wanting to get the floor wet, he waited nervously and uncomfortably there. "This is ridiculous," he scolded, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Come and get it, baby," Lorelai joked.

Luke rolled his eyes and stepped out of the tub and toward her to grab the towel. As he stepped between her legs to take it from her, she reached behind him and squeezed his left butt cheek quickly with her right hand.

"Lorelai," he scolded again. Luke turned to dry off and she massaged his back.

Finally tying the towel around his waist he turned to his pile of clothes and said, "No underwear?"

She lifted her eyebrows quickly twice before he rolled his eyes and pushed past her into the bedroom, annoyed slightly in his own annoyed-with-Lorelai way. "I'm not going commando at your parents' house."

"Why not?" She smiled devilishly, "I am."

"No you're not." he said.

She tried again, "Why not?"

"They'll know."

"How could they possibly know?" Lorelai asked.

"They're your parents; they'll...be able to tell."

After taking out a pair of boxer briefs for himself, he crossed the room to her dresser, opened her top drawer, and took out a pair of underwear, handing it to her as he pushed past her toward the bathroom again.

Lorelai immediately returned them to the drawer, closed it, and followed Luke. "I was only joking because you're right. I have a feeling they would know. And could you imagine, oh my God, if my parents knew I was sitting on their couch in a dress with nothing on underneath. Hah! They might drop dead!" She paused, thinking. "Hmm," she finished smiling.

At this, once inside the bathroom, Luke turned and glared at Lorelai.

"What?" She said innocently, while reaching down and yanking the closed towel off of him. Luke's mouth dropped open and his eyes narrowed at her as he pulled on his underwear and stood with his hands on his hips, just looking at her. "You're really hot when you're angry," she observed, smiling and leaning in to kiss him on the cheek before turning and swaying her hips as she walked away, saying "April and I will be waiting for you downstairs, don't take too long."

Luke sighed, shook his head, and finished getting dressed in the gray pants and navy sweater that Lorelai picked for him.

Meeting the girls in the car five minutes later, he found them listening to the radio. He was relieved that it seemed Lorelai did not share the torture she had just been inflicting upon him with his daughter-- although he couldn't imagine why she would. He could only take so much humiliation in a span of twenty minutes.

* * *

"You've been warned," Lorelai directed toward April thirty-five minutes later as they stood outside the Gilmore Mansion. At this Luke reached out to ring the doorbell. 

Soon enough, the door was opened by Emily, who barely smiled at them before walking away.

"Okay," Lorelai said, "I guess we come in."

Rory walked into the foyer to greet them, "Hey! Grandma's a bit frazzled. Apparently the problem with _this_ maid is that she keeps falling asleep."

"I see," Lorelai nodded, grabbing Rory's arm and leaning in to kiss her cheek, "Narcolepsy?"

Rory just shrugged. "Hey, April," she started with a smile. "How are you doing?"

"I can't complain," April answered.

"Yet," Lorelai mumbled. The other three heard her comment, but ignored it.

"Happy Birthday," April continued.

"Thanks," Rory said, still smiling.

"Yeah, Happy Birthday, Rory." Luke touched her arm with a smile.

"Thanks, Luke. How's the diner been?"

"Oh," Luke replied, "fine. Busy as ever."

"Yeah," Rory said, "I miss that food, let me tell you."

"You'll just have to come home more often," Luke smiled.

"Well," Rory joked, "I'm not sure if that's possible with April here taking over my room."

"Actually," Lorelai jumped in, "we shouldn't have to worry about that much longer because Tom said the two new bedrooms should be finished pretty soon."

"Oh, that's good," Rory agreed.

Richard and Emily then entered the foyer together as a quiet, wide-eyed, freaked-out maid scurried through in the background.

"What's that?" Richard asked, "Why are you adding another addition?"

"Well," Lorelai said, "April should have a room, but right now our house only has two bedrooms and one's Rory's." Lorelai had her hand on April's shoulder.

"Oh, yes. Hello, April," Richard said with a smile.

"Hello, Mr. Gilmore. Mrs. Gilmore. How do you do?"

"We're fine, thank you," Richard said. "So then, why do you need two more bedrooms then?"

"Well, we just think it'd be a good idea to have. Just in case," Lorelai replied, masking the truth.

"Oh my God!" Emily gasped.

_"Shit!"_ Lorelai thought to herself, knowing what was coming.

"You're pregnant!" Emily exclaimed.

"No!" Lorelai clarified.

Emily just stared at Lorelai as if she was trying to break her down. "Not..." Lorelai started, although she wasn't sure why, and she stared at her shoes, smiling sheepishly. **(Okay, now I'm thinking Lorelai and Emily's conversation about Christopher in "I Can't Get Started." That's the kind of Lorelai smile I mean.)**

"Not what?" Emily pressed.

"Not yet," Luke mumbled just loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"Oh -- That's nice," Emily was surprised at what she was hearing. Her daughter was trying to have a baby with her husband, the Diner Guy. It seemed strange to Emily. Her scandalous daughter was finally doing things "the right way," and she wasn't sure how to take it, so she used her biggest defense mechanism and said, "Honestly, I can't believe we're having active conversation in the entrance way, that's just not done. I don't know what any of you could possibly be thinking. Come on, let's go into the living room."

Richard and Rory followed Emily out as the maid took the other three's coats. April ventured into the living room before Luke and Lorelai, her face expressing only awe. Luke and Lorelai followed. Luke had his hand on the small of Lorelai's back as he whispered in her ear, "Sorry about that."

"Yeah, well," Lorelai said as they entered the living room and sat on they couch, as if to say,_ "Well, these things happen when Emily Gilmore is involved. There's not much you can do." _Lorelai's hand rested on her thigh, and Luke held it in his own.

Meanwhile, April and Rory sat on the couch opposite them and Richard and Emily each sat in nearby chairs.

A few moments of silence later, Richard sprang up, "Oh my, I'm so sorry. I cannot believe I have forgotten to offer drinks. What would everyone like?" He looked on, waiting for responses with his hands clasped together in front of his chest.

Quickly, Lorelai responded with, "Martini," automatically.

"Okay, one Martini," Richard recapped.

"Make that two," said Emily.

Richard said, "Two Martinis. You, Rory?"

Emily rose to help Richard with the drinks as Rory responded, "I'm a joiner."

"Alright, _three_ Martinis."

"How about you, Luke?" Emily's oh-so-familiar question inevitable at this point. Lorelai rolled her eyes in anticipation and muttered, "Beer, Luke?"

Emily continued her question wearing a devilish smile, "a _beer_?"

"Beer sounds fine," Luke replied happily.

Richard handed Rory's drink to her and Luke's to him. Emily held her Martini in one hand and Lorelai's in another. As she was about to hand Lorelai her drink, Emily suddenly pulled it away. Lorelai looked confused and disappointed as her arm reached out for the drink with no avail and a pout came to play on her lips.

Emily said, "Oh, wait. You could be pregnant. You can't have alcohol." Emily almost sounded pleased with this.

"Mom, I'm not pregnant yet. It's fine."

"You have no way of knowing that, Lorelai. If the two of you are trying, you could be pregnant right now." Luke's face was quickly turning red with his and Lorelai's sex life begin discussed in front of his daughter, step-daughter, and father-in-law, by his mother-in-law. His face, that is, along with Richard's, Rory's, and April's. Emily and Lorelai, seemingly unaffected.

"Trust me, Mom. I have legitimate ways of knowing that I'm probably not yet, okay? Just give me the drink. Unless you want me to spell it out for you." She was starting to get annoyed, not that she was in dire need of alcohol. It was more the fact that this was being discussed and debated by her mother. She was a grown woman, and she should be able to decide when it is or isn't appropriate to drink a Martini, she justified to herself.

"Now, Lorelai," Richard began, but Luke cut in, seeing that this conversation was quickly spiraling out of control. He attempted to save them all. "Hey, maybe you're mom's right, why don't you skip it tonight, just to be safe." He patted her leg encouragingly.

"Fine," she sighed, over dramatically.

"How 'bout a soda?" Rory suggested.

"Yeah, I guess," Lorelai sighed again, crossing her arms over her chest, annoyed by the situation, not the lack of alcohol. Emily made her way back over to the drink cart.

"You know what?" Luke chimed in, "Why don't I join you? Soda for me too please, Emily. After all, I'm the one driving the hypothetical baby."

Lorelai's mouth hung open in disbelief that Luke seemed to be encouraging her mother.

"Alright," Emily agreed as she took the beer from Luke.

As Emily poured the sodas, Lorelai noticed, "And hey, Mom, perhaps April would like a drink."

"Oh, yes. April, I'm sorry. What would you like?" Richard apologized.

"Soda's fine, thanks."

Emily brought a glass of coke to Luke and Lorelai saying, "Luke? Lorelai?" respectively as she handed them the drinks. Then she turned to April with a third soda and said, smiling knowingly, "June?"

"Um," April said, not wanting to correct her.

"It's _April_, Mom," Lorelai scolded.

"Yes," Emily stated simply as she smirked and sat back down in her chair as she sipped her drink.

The five sat almost silently for a few minutes. Eventually, Rory broke the silence. "April, how's 8th grade treating you?"

"Oh, well..." April labored.

"That bad?" Rory looked surprised.

"No, it's really not actually," April admitted. "It's hard, but I like it," she smiled. **(Yeah, yeah. I know, I know. "One's Got Class and the Other One Dyes.")**

"That's always how I felt," Rory agreed.

"Yeah?" April asked, "What classes did you like?"

"Mostly English, which would make sense seeing as it's my major," Rory said.

"I wish I liked English more," April sighed. "It would make all those essays a lot easier to handle. I mean I like reading and all, but man the class. Yikes!"

Emily intruded, "You shouldn't dismiss English, it's important to a successful life. People can get by with just 'hey' and 'dude' and 'yo,' but those people are not honorable citizens. The more schooling in English you get, the better off you'll be. I mean, look at Rory. I really can't believe some young people today. Nobody likes English. It's our language for goodness sake."

"It's not really _so_ bad, it's just not my favorite," April justified.

"What subject _do_ you enjoy?" Richard inquired, joining the conversation.

"I love science!" April declared in her vehement way, eyes widening. "Don't even get me started," she smiled.

"A future doctor among us?" Richard hinted.

"That would be _amazing_," April responded, getting excited.

"Doctors can be so flaky sometimes," Emily added snobbishly.

"That's why we need more good ones," Luke said with a smile. "April would be a good one."

"Doctor's can be so arrogant too, and unpersonable," Emily tried again.

_"Look who's talking,"_ Lorelai thought, though she actually voiced, "Mom, most doctors are _really_ not as bad as you're making them sound."

Emily just rolled her eyes and sighed.

April smiled despite Emily, "I don't have to be a doctor. I mean, anything science would make me happy. It might be nice to be an astronomer, or an archaeologist, or a marine biologist, or a chemist." As she listed the possibilities, she got more excited with each one, smiling the whole time. Finally she added, "Anything science."

Richard agreed, "Yes, it's good to keep an open mind." He seemed pleased. "I enjoy science myself. Unfortunately, I don't know _too_ much about it, only what I've read or caught on the Discovery or Science Channel, but I'd love to learn more."

The enthusiasm in her father's voice was too much for Lorelai to take. She let out a slight laugh, coming out really as a small snort, noticed only by Luke and Rory who smiled knowingly at her. Both of them equally amused.

"I love the Science Channel. Have you ever been in the Discovery Store?" April was in her element with this conversation.

"I can't say that I have," Richard admitted disappointedly.

"Well, you should really check it out sometime," April insisted, "I could live in that store!"

"Seems strange that you'd rather be in a store when science is outside," Emily muttered plenty loud enough. She earned a glare from Lorelai and was looked at with threatening intentions by Luke.

Rory jumped in on top of Emily, silencing her as April was taken aback, but not entirely annoyed or hurt, "You'd be surprised, Grandma. Those stores are pretty cool. Usually there are people in there demonstrating some act of science."

"Plus," April added, "They have all kinds of cool kits in there. Some of which I have, but most I just dream of having. Right now, my biggest obsession is obtaining a rock polisher."

"That sounds fascinating," Richard sounded excited.

Lorelai and Luke just looked at each other slightly confused. "A rock polisher?" Luke whispered to Lorelai.

"Don't look at me, she's not my daughter," Lorelai said shaking her head.

"But that is your father and he seems equally excited," Luke pointed out.

"When have I ever been able to explain my father to you, Luke?"

"Good point."

They then turned back to the conversation between April and Richard, their own short conversation unheard by everyone else.

"It is," April agreed.

"Well, if you ever get it, you'll have to show me the results."

"Sure," April smiled widely, "I'd love to."

"So, April," Emily interrupted again, "Where do you plan to go to high school?"

"Well," April stalled, "I'm not really sure." She looked at her dad questioningly and shrugged.

"Yeah, Emily, she'll probably just go to the public school with the rest of her friends," Luke said, seeing nothing wrong with this.

"Hmm," Emily said, "do you think that's wise?"

"Why not?" April asked innocently.

"Well," Emily said, "colleges like private schools."

"I like public school. Plus, that's where my friends are," April reasoned.

"Well, you could always make new friends."

"April's school is fine, Mom," Lorelai said, getting annoyed again. "If that's where she wants to be then that's where she's going to be. It's her choice."

"Rory went to a private school, and she liked it, and look where it got her."

"But Rory _wanted_ to go there, Mom. If she hadn't, I wouldn't have made her go."

"Plus," April joined again, "I haven't made any permanent decisions yet."

"But when she does, Mom, you'll be the first to know," Lorelai said enthusiastically.

Emily rolled her eyes at her daughter's sarcasm. "It's hard to get into Chilton anyway," Emily smirked.

"But April's smart. She gets really good grades. She's like Rory -- she could get in." Luke defended his daughter chivalrously.

"If she wanted to," Rory jumped in.

"Right," Luke agreed, "_if _she wanted to."

Just then the timer on the stove could be heard beeping. It continued to sound for a while until Emily said, "Oh, for goodness sake." She rose laboriously from her chair and moved toward the kitchen to wake the maid.

Emily returned a few minutes later to announce that dinner was ready. As everyone filed into the dining room, Lorelai grabbed Emily's arm, smiling in mock sweetness. She said, "Hey. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Dinner is ready, Lorelai," Emily said, annoyed, as she watched the others sit down at the table.

"I know, it'll just take a sec. I promise," Lorelai said, plastering a smile onto her face and pulling Emily into the empty kitchen. Who knows where the maid had fallen asleep now.

"Lorelai, that's hurts, you know." Emily referred to the grip that Lorelai had on her arm.

"What's going on, Mom?" Lorelai pleaded.

"Nothing's _going on_," Emily mocked.

"Come on. Please! I want to know why you invited Luke and April here for Rory's birthday just so that you could attack April. It's not right, and she doesn't deserve it," Lorelai said accusingly.

"I wanted to meet her," Emily reasoned.

"Why? So that you could hammer her into the ground?" Lorelai snapped.

"No, Lorelai. Don't be so dramatic." Emily scolded her.

"Well, Mom, I'm sorry, but I don't get it. Why are you being like this?"

"Don't you see, Lorelai?" Emily snapped back. "He already has a kid that will grow up to be successful. One day, he'll wish he could be with her more because as much as I hate to admit it, he's an honorable man. Then, he'll regret not being there for April and he'll resent you for it because you're the one he _is_ with. And what's worse, is that next he'll resent your kids and what if he leaves you, Lorelai? I _don't_ want to see anymore kids without their father the way Rory was." Emily admitted this painfully, her voice a mixture of sadness and frustration.

"Mom," Lorelai sympathized, "_That_ is crazy. Luke _is_ there for April, and so am I. He is _not_ going to leave me."

"Oh, really? What makes you so sure? He's in the same position as Christopher was, and Christopher always came back to you," Emily pointed out.

"Okay, yes," Lorelai admitted reluctantly, "the _position_ is similar, but the men are not. Luke is not Christopher. Luke loves me, not April's mother. Chris never loved Sherry. He just kept loving me. That's why he kept coming back. As much as I hate to admit it, it was never for Rory. I wish it was. If Chris just wanted to be with Rory, he could have done it without being with me. Luke is different. He loves me and he _adores _his daughter. However, he can do both of those and have a baby with me. He can juggle all of that crazy emotion and every one of the insane situations that we all know you'll throw at us, Mom," Lorelai smiled through her tears, "I trust that there is enough Luke to go around. Our baby _will not_ be unloved. I know Luke, Mom, he wouldn't let that happen, and neither would you." By the end of her plea for understanding, Lorelai's hand rested on her stomach hopefully.

Emily, perhaps realizing how much more trust she should have in her daughter's world and regretting some of her actions, could not even smile. She stared at the strong, intelligent woman she wouldn't admit she was proud of, and turned away, discreetly wiping away tears once her back was turned. Emily headed for the doorway and said, "Dinner's waiting."

Lorelai braced herself against the counter, regaining composure. A few minutes passed, and then Luke walked in. He rubbed Lorelai's back and whispered, "Are you okay?"

"I love you, Luke," Lorelai sighed and enveloped him in a hug.

"I love you, too," Luke almost questioned, confused about what was going on, having heard none of the conversation between Emily and Lorelai.

Lorelai pulled away soon and smiled weakly at Luke before asking, "You'll never leave me, right -- not matter what?"

"Of course, not. Lorelai! Of course not." His arms still held her close by the waist and her arms were wrapped around his neck.

"We're okay, right?" He checked.

"Always." She smiled despite herself, took Luke by the hand, and pulled him back into the other room.


	8. Sentimental Confessions

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from Gilmore Girls are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

_So, this really shouldn't have been a separate chapter because there are not really stand-alone events in it. It pretty much just finishes off the last chapter. I typed chapters 1-10 this summer, and usually there would be a good stopping point every 3,000 to 5,000 words. But, if I had combined chapters 7 and 8 it would have been closer to 7,000. That was pretty much my only reasoning for splitting it up. Anyway, you didn't really need to know that, but it's simply my excuse for posting a fairly pointless chapter. I'll also admit that this is not one of the better chapters. :) And with that, I hope you enjoy. (Sarcasm is hard to express in writing.)_

* * *

Dinner conversation was sorely lacking in enthusiasm until after cake when Lorelai smiled and said anxiously, "Okay, present time?"

"I believe it is," Richard smiled at Rory.

"Oh, you guys didn't have to do this," Rory promised.

"We wanted to," Lorelai nodded at Rory. "We love ya, kid."

Rory just smiled.

"So, here's ours." Lorelai handed over a wrapped box, "From me, Luke, and April...picked out by me." She smiled with anticipation.

"Mom, you brought it here?" Rory asked confused.

"Yeah, I was afraid you wouldn't make it back to the house until like November, 'cause I remembered you said you had a paper to write this weekend. And we all know how the weekend rolls into the week, and this week carries to next weekend, which begins the next week. And then Logan comes home and you go out with him for the weekend. And then he takes you to Fiji or something. _Then_, you always have Paper stuff to do and Mommy never sees you. And by that point it's early December. And before we know it you don't have a birthday present at all. You have one extra Christmas present. And, while, yes, that's fun, it will look a little silly if all the presents under the tree are wrapped in Christmas paper and just one little box has Birthday paper. Uh! Can you imagine?"

By now, Luke, April, and Rory were all smiling with small chuckles at the way Lorelai could carry on.

"Well, you could have just said, 'Because I wanted you to have it today beautiful Rory," Rory joked.

"Because I wanted you to have it today beautiful Rory," Lorelai repeated mechanically.

"That's funny," Rory acted surprised, "I thought that was why." She smiled. "Okay, here goes..." Rory began tearing open the paper. "Mom!" She scolded.

Lorelai just laughed.

"It's nothing dirty, is it?" Emily sighed.

"What is it, Rory?" April asked, not knowing herself. Luke was leaning over, trying to catch a glimpse of what it was.

Rory shook her head with embarrassment, "Saved By the Bell. The Complete 1st Season," Rory groaned dramatically.

"With a special bonus feature about where all the actors are today and how the show changed their lives forever," Lorelai added with mock sentiment.

"What kind of show is this?" Richard wondered aloud.

"Oh, I just liked it as a kid, Grandpa. It's nothing," Rory assured.

"It's nothing like that crazy purple dinosaur is it?" Emily asked with pain.

"Yeah, that's one annoying puppet," Richard sighed.

"Actually," April added, "I think Barney is a costume. Sort of like a mascot or the characters at Disney Land."

"Oh yes!" Richard added. "I was thinking of that other children's program where they are puppets: one's green and skinny and one's fat and pink...with hair," Richard attempted to explain.

"Do you mean the Muppets?" Lorelai asked.

"Perhaps," Richard answered, still unsure.

"That was a frog and a pig, Dad. Barney is a dinosaur. There's quite a difference." Lorelai chuckled but still argued this with an abnormal amount of seriousness for the matter at hand.

"Just the same..." Richard said.

"No, Grandpa, Saved By the Bell is about high school kids," Rory explained.

"Ah-ha, well..." Richard started.

"So," Rory looked at her mother, "why?"

"Well, I was in the store and it was there, and I remembered how vehement you once were about its quality and I thought 'Huh. Rory will love this!'" Lorelai laughed.

"Oh yeah," Rory rolled her eyes, her words dripping with sarcasm.

"I love you that much, kid, that I would put myself through all the humiliation that comes with buying Saved By The Bell DVDs just for you," Lorelai joked.

"Well, thank you," Rory said. "As always, your dedication to me is overwhelming."

"Thank you." Lorelai pretended to get choked up as she put her hand over her heart.

"Okay, so?" Richard smiled widely. "This is for you, Rory." He slid a long velvet box towards her. "Your grandmother and I thought you'd like it."

As Rory took the bow off the box and opened it she gasped. It was a necklace -- a white gold locket shaped like heart and studded with diamonds. As Rory opened it she was more than pleased to see on the right a picture of her and her grandparents and on the left a picture of her and her mom. "I--" Rory was lost for words, and before she could speak Richard held up his hand and gave her a card.

Opening it up, Rory read, "We love you, Rory. We want you to know that no matter where you go off to in your life, we'll always be here if you need us. We'll be awaiting your visits and anxious to drop everything to help you with whatever you need. I'm greatly proud to be your grandfather, Rory. I'm amazed by all you've accomplished in your young life thus far. Go out into the world and spread your wealth, but don't forget about your grandparents who will be sitting at home hoping to hear from you." Richard's firm handwriting ended here.

The table sat in silence as she read to herself.

"Rory," Emily's delicate handwriting began, "it's taken us long enough to say this, but your mother having you is the best thing that ever could have happened, and I know we've said the opposite in the past. Truthfully, we're proud of what you both have accomplished, and the Gilmore name was not damned because of you both, it was defined by you. And, without you, Rory Gilmore, it would not be so strong. Don't forget me, Rory, once you've conquered the world. I love you. Grandma."

"Thank you," Rory said, her eyes filled with tears. She looked from Richard to Emily and then sprang from her seat and hugged them both and then her mother.

April, Luke, and Lorelai all wondered what the card said, though Lorelai had a good idea.

* * *

Luke, Lorelai, April, and Rory left about twenty minutes later. Rory hugged the others good-bye outside the door. "I'll email you what it said," Rory whispered to Lorelai. 

Before Rory got in her car and drove away, Lorelai smiled at her. "Happy Birthday, Baby. Enjoy your DVDs!"

The three were left standing in the driveway a moment later.

Luke was opening the Jeep's door on his side as he said, "Ready to go?"

"Um, hold on," Lorelai started. "April, can I talk to you for a second first?"

"Sure," April agreed, nodding -- unsure of what this was about.

Luke got into the jeep and started it as Lorelai began, "April, listen, I'm really sorry for this."

April shrugged it off, "Oh, it's okay."

"No," Lorelai cut her off forcefully, "it's not okay at all. My mother should not have treated you that way, and I shouldn't have put you in that position." When April didn't say anything, Lorelai put her hand on her arm for a moment and continued "Listen, I know this is just a strange situation and we haven't known each other for too long, but I'm having a great time getting to know you, and I think you're a really sweet, awesome kid."

Lorelai smiled at April as she said, "Thanks, Lorelai. I feel the same way about you."

Lorelai extended her arms to April and asked shyly, "Can I?"

April sprung into a hug with Lorelai. Throughout their brief heart-to-heart, Luke sat smiling, believing perhaps for the first time that things in his life really were working out.

As Lorelai and April made their way into the car, Lorelai assured once more, "So, I really am sorry."

April smiled, "It's okay...and thank you."

"Let's go home?" Luke asked hopefully once they were settled.

"Let's go home," Lorelai sighed in agreement.

* * *

Upon arriving at the house, April said she had some homework to do to prepare for her project tomorrow. Lorelai said she'd be upstairs when Luke said he'd like to talk to April first. 

They got to Rory's room where April sat at the desk and Luke basically hovered. He started, "April, um, I want to talk to you for a minute, if you don't mind..." She turned to him, eyes wide. "I, um, I know Lorelai already apologized for tonight, but," Luke said as April nodded in agreement as she followed his words. "I really am not great at this sort of thing," Luke sighed, making an apologetic face. "But I just want you to know that as a random guy off the street I'm amazed by your person, and as your father, I'm extremely proud of who you are, April. I know I had little to do with creating you...well, you know," he gesticulated wildly, becoming nervous. "I obviously had a _lot _to do with the actual creation part, but." They both furrowed their eyebrows at this. Luke clarified, "I'm really sorry I didn't have much to do with making you such a smart, driven, thoughtful, person. I wish I could take credit, but I'm happy to just admire it." Luke smiled, touching April's arm. "Okay? Don't conform to anyone else. We all just love you as you. I'm really sorry if people made you think otherwise tonight."

April, almost tearful, lunged at her father, hugging him tightly and taking Luke by surprise. "I missed you, Dad," she whispered. "Before I met you, I missed you."

This comment made Luke feel even worse.

"I love you, Dad," April said. "Thanks for being who I always wanted you to be."

Luke pulled away after a few moments. He smiled at April and wiped a tear from her cheek. She laughed aloud when he said, "Well, who could resist such a pretty face?"

A few minutes later, they said goodnight and Luke started upstairs.

* * *

While Luke was downstairs with April, Lorelai sat on the small couch in their bedroom and called Rory's cell. 

"Hi, Mom," Rory answered.

"Hey, Hun, I couldn't wait for an email," Lorelai confessed.

"I'm not surprised," Rory laughed.

Rory read the contents of the card to Lorelai. Lorelai was overjoyed to hear these words. "Are you sure it's from them?" She joked.

"Yes," Rory replied dramatically.

"My father's handwriting is kind of square and Emily's is more swirly," Lorelai checked.

"Yup, that's it," Rory assured.

"They really love you, Kid...that makes three of us." Lorelai smiled.

"Mom, you know they love you too, right? Even if they never tell you, they're proud of you. You don't have to read between the lines to figure that out in this card."

"Yeah, but they sure are a pain in my butt," Lorelai lightened the mood.

"And that will never change," Rory said as if it was positive news.

"Okay, Kid, have a great Birthday tomorrow, but I'll be talking to you twenty-two times anyway, this is just a preview."

"Okay, Mom. Talk to you tomorrow."

By the time Lorelai hung up the phone, Luke sat on the couch beside her, one arm on the back of the couch, one on her thigh. He faced her.

As soon as her cell snapped shut, Lorelai turned to Luke and sighed, "I'm so sorry, Luke." She put her hand on his cheek and her eyes pleaded for understanding. "You have no idea how sorry."

"I know," Luke nodded, "it's not okay, but it's also not your fault."

"Thank you," she said, stroking his cheek with her thumb.

Luke leaned in and kissed her. The kiss was full of want that he hadn't realized he had. Within a few moments, they were practically horizontal on the couch. The mixture of anger, annoyance, and love for each other that they felt fueled the interaction.

"Luke," Lorelai gasped as he pushed at her coat, trying to remove it. She obliged, and it hit the floor. She pushed at his coat as he devoured her chest -- what was left uncovered by the skimpy dress. Luke lifted the skirt of her dress and she asked, "Are we really going to try to do this again. What about April?"

"Be quiet and we have nothing to worry about," Luke said with complete seriousness.

"Fine," Lorelai agreed.

Luke lay on top of Lorelai, both her legs on the couch at the right of his body. She moved her left leg and he lifted himself long enough to settle between her legs. She reached for the buckle of his belt, and they continued to kiss.

Twenty minutes later, they lay beneath the covers of their bed, cuddled together. Lorelai's head was on Luke's chest as he played with her hair.

"Did you wear that dress for a specific reason?" Luke asked.

"What fun would it be if I told you that?" Lorelai asked in return.

Luke smiled and said, "Hasn't anyone ever told you that you shouldn't answer a question with a question?"

"Do you realize you just answered my question with a question?" Lorelai joked.

Changing the subject, Luke asked, "Are you working tomorrow?"

"In the morning," Lorelai answered. "I'm gonna come home around 1:00 because April's friend is coming over and I don't think we ever found out if the girl's mom wants one of us to be here, but I figure it's just a good idea in case."

"You don't have to do that. I can come home," Luke reasoned.

"No, Luke, don't worry. Do whatever you want, but don't feel like you can't ask me to be here alone. She's my step daughter. I don't mind. Plus-- I don't really enjoy working on weekends anyway."

"Okay..." Luke said.

"But -- I'm not telling you to stay away," Lorelai assured him, picking up her head to look Luke in the eyes.

"I know," Luke rubbed her back, and she settled back onto his chest. "I think I'll come back around 3:00 and try to meet the girl's mother."

"We should probably stop call her _'the girl,'_" Lorelai pointed out.

Luke pondered, "We're gonna be the kind of parents who call their baby 'it' until it's born and named aren't we?"

"I hope not," Lorelai answered simply. "So? The girl's name is Jenny, right?"

"Uh?" Luke said, "I think...yes."

"Good, go on," Lorelai said.

"So then, when she gets here I'll take dinner orders and I'll have Lane close so that I can bring you guys dinner."

"Sounds like a plan," Lorelai smiled. "So, are you opening tomorrow?" She yawned as she spoke.

Luke yawned out his response, "Unfortunately, Caesar said something about a 'personal' injury...all questioning stopped there."

"And for good reason." Lorelai made a face. "So, you'll be gone when I get up?"

"I'll be out by 4:30, I'd say."

"Okay, then I'll stop by for breakfast."

"Sounds good...bring April."

"K," Lorelai said groggily, clearly falling asleep.

"Love you," Luke whispered.

"Love you," Lorelai repeated.

"Goodnight," Luke attempted, but go no response. The angel on his chest was already asleep.

* * *

_I thought one thing deserved a little explanation. Richard and Emily's card: My reasoning for that was one: to express the contrast (love and hate) that they represent. Two: because they know that this may be their last birthday dinner with their granddaughter, so they're feeling extra sentimental. _

_If I were a better writer, that would not need an explanation, but here we are. _


	9. Hangin' Around

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from _Gilmore Girls_ are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

_Thanks for everyone who said that I was being too hard on myself. Anyway, that's probably because I fancy myself a good writer but when it comes out it's just never quite like I imagined. Plus, when you spend your time reading GG stories by people like "Oh-no-she-di'ent" there's no way you can consider yourself as good._

_Sorry I didn't update this weekend. Computer issues. But, I'm finding time during the week to do it. Yay! It will probably never happen again._

_For all you freaks like me, I'm sure Logan was not home at the time of Rory's birthday, but I figure he probably could have come home for a weekend if he'd wanted to. So, in my story, he did._

_Thanks for reading..._

* * *

The next day, Lorelai and April ate breakfast together at Luke's. Upon finishing, Lorelai headed to the inn and April helped Luke at the diner for a while, later walking home to get ready for Jenny. 

Lorelai got home at 1:00. After greeting April, she quickly told her she was going upstairs to change. She entered Rory's bedroom wearing dark blue American Eagle sweatpants and a long-sleeved, white, v-neck t-shirt.

"Watcha doin'?" Lorelai asked as April picked up some stuff off the floor.

"Just neatening up," April said turning to look at Lorelai and then frowning. She quickly corrected it with a smile as she shook her head.

Meanwhile, Lorelai was asking, "You're _neatening_? Neatening _what_? This room is _crazy_ neat. The neatest! It couldn't get any neater."

"Okay," April said, "well the word 'neat' has lost all meaning to me..." April paused to just look at Lorelai with a slightly confused, slightly mystified expression. She finally said, "Um, hey, Lorelai? This might be a totally weird thing for me to say but it's one of those thoughts that you just have to voice..." April's pause signified her need for Lorelai's approval.

"K, go ahead," Lorelai nodded.

"Why do you look good in everything?" April said this dramatically.

"What?" Lorelai laughed, smiling and sitting on Rory's bed.

"You look great in everything you wear, and it's almost annoying to those of us...like me," she said bashfully, "who don't." April came to sit on the bed also, facing Lorelai.

Lorelai just frowned, not yet sure what to say.

"I just," April sighed, "You're wearing sweatpants and you look better than I would if I were in a dress."

"Okay," Lorelai said, not sure where to begin. "First off, April, you're extremely cute. Second, it just takes time."

"You know what? I'm sorry," April smiled, "that was not supposed to be a statement that made you pity me...I meant it as a joke...even though it's entirely true." April got off the bed, hung a sweater that previously resided on a chair in the closet and avoided eye-contact with Lorelai.

"Hey, wait a minute," Lorelai said sympathetically, "I know this is gonna sound really lame, but," Lorelai shrugged, "do you want to talk about it?"

"No," April sighed.

"Okay," Lorelai said with respect and got up off the bed, making her way towards the door.

"It's just," April began.

Lorelai turned around and smiled a sympathetic smile at April. They both returned to the bed, and April continued, "I don't know, I don't want to be this girl, but something is just happening. It's like, some of my friends have boyfriends, but they're all people we all used to be just friends with. Then all of a sudden, they decided they liked my friends, so now when we all hang out, I feel a little stupid." April admitted this slowly.

"Okay, you know what April? That's normal, and it's okay." Lorelai said this with complete seriousness.

"Yeah, but it's still hard because I don't _want_ to want a boyfriend, but I feel like everyone else is ahead of me."

"Okay, here's a good spot for me to jump in," Lorelai smiled, "People go at their own pace, and when you start thinking you're behind. That's when you get too far ahead. I bet you most of your friends aren't as far ahead as you think. They don't want to show it, but they all feel the same way as you, I bet. Take it from someone who was very far ahead. You're only thirteen. I know it seems awful when adults say that because it seems like they don't understand. Most of them probably don't."

April smiled as Lorelai shrugged with this comment, and continued, "But I know that you feel the same things adults do, just trust me. Go slow, you've got a big, exciting life ahead of you and you don't need anyone holding you back if you don't really feel something for them."

"Okay," April said unsure.

"I know that's probably not what you wanted to hear, but as you're 'step-mother,'" Lorelai used air quotes. " I had to say it.

"Now, here's what I'm saying as you're friend who has more experience than you. All it takes is a little effort, confidence, intelligence, and some outfit coordination. If they think, 'She's already put together, she doesn't need to be popular,' that's probably when they'll notice you. So, we all know you've got the intelligence, and some wit to go along with it. I can help you with the outfits, confidence comes with time, and I'm willing to make an effort if you are." Lorelai smiled and squeezed April's hand quickly.

"I am," April said, eyes wide, with feeling.

"So, switching back to step-mother side, this can work, but school work will always have to be more important or the intelligence part will go straight out the window."

April laughed and said, "Oh yeah- of course. I'm not gonna just throw all of that away for a guy."

"Good to know, so, we can just make sure you always look cute, not that you don't anyway, but you know by people-who-aren't-gonna-love-you-anyway's standards. I think a little consistency is all it'll take."

April nodded.

"But April?"

"Yeah?"

"The most important part of this is that we do it without losing you. It's not the same if we just make you who the 'popular kids' want to see. That's not what you wanted, right?"

"Not at all, all I want is..." she paused, thinking. "I don't know, just to be clear and confident about who I am so people get a strong impression...like...This is who I am...I'm looking good being this way...so take it or leave it."

Lorelai and April just laughed at the ridiculousness of this conversation even though they both knew it was an important topic.

"Okay, so enough encouraging 'just be yourself' conversation for one day?" Lorelai hoped.

"Definitely," April agreed.

"So, can we just end with this then?" Lorelai said, both of them standing now. "I'm always around if you need me...for anything."

"Thanks, Lorelai." April nodded.

"Sure," Lorelai replied. She soon realized, "So? Where's Jenny going to sleep?"

"Um?" April returned, frowning. "Good question."

The two women pondered this predicament for a moment until Lorelai realized, "Oh! I know."

"What?" April questioned.

"Come on," Lorelai sort of waved and started towards the staircase -- April following.

"What are we doing?" April asked.

"I just remembered that we have a mattress upstairs in the attic," Lorelai smiled, turning to April as they walked up the stairs. "Oh, wait," Lorelai held up her finger non-verbally saying, 'one minute' and continued, "I have to call Rory."

"Okay," April agreed.

Lorelai got the phone in her bedroom and called Rory's cell.

"Mom?" Rory answered, "I'm so surprised you're calling!" Rory joked.

The phone was loud enough for April to hear both sides of the conversation.

"I know, it's been a while since we've talked, but I just had to say, 'Happy Birthday.'" Lorelai spoke happily.

April smiled, standing in the doorway.

Rory said, "Thanks, Mom."

Lorelai replied, "Okay, talk to you soon."

"Eleven more times."

"Bye, Hun," Lorelai finished before they both hung up.

April looked on with a curious face.

"I'm calling her twenty-two times today."

"Because she's twenty-two," April reasoned.

"Exactly," Lorelai said as if it was a hard thing to figure out, "we used to have this thing when she lived here where every year on her birthday I'd go into her room at 4:03 in the morning, because that's the time she was born, and tell her the story of her birthday. Like, what happened that night, and how I felt, etc, etc." Lorelai reminisced for a moment.

"Oh, that's nice," April judged truthfully.

"Yeah," Lorelai came out of her reminiscence to explain. "But since she moved out, she's not, obviously, here at night. So, instead I started calling her on her birthday a bunch of times. The number of times corresponding to how old she is."

"Ah-ha," April smiled and nodded.

"So, I have to call her like every twenty minutes in order to keep up."

"Got it."

Lorelai and April just stood there for a minute until Lorelai said, "So, mattress?"

"Right," April said.

Lorelai walked into the hallway and pulled down the large overhead door, revealing some stairs that slid down to the floor.

"You ever seen Christmas Vacation?" Lorelai asked April.

"No."

"Oh, okay. Then you wouldn't understand the joke I was just going to make about going into the attic. We'll have to watch it this year."

"Sounds good." April smiled.

"Okay, so," Lorelai started to plan the strategy of attack, "I'll go up and just sort of push it towards the opening and we'll see if we can get it down from there. You'll just sort of have to guide it down the stairs." By this time Lorelai had climbed into the attic and started pushing the mattress towards the door.

"Okay," April agreed.

"Just --" Lorelai strained to push the mattress, "Don't let it squash you."

"Got it," April laughed.

"I don't think Luke would be too happy with me if I squashed you with a mattress."

"Yeah, that's a bad way to go."

They got the mattress to the top of the stairs and carried it down the first few -- Lorelai going forward, April backward. They were at the landing near the top of the stairs when Lorelai said, "Oh, hey, wait a minute," and they set the mattress down. Lorelai proceeded to push it down the stairs. It skidded all the way until it hit the railing on the opposite side of the landing near the bottom of the stairs.

They both started down the stairs after it.

"Well, that's one way to do it," April joked.

* * *

"So?" April asked as they flopped the mattress down next to Rory's bed. "Why does this mattress have a Yale tag on it?" 

"Long story," Lorelai started as they began stretching a sheet over the mattress's corners. "I'll make it as short as possible: When Rory moved into Yale, we got her a new mattress for her dorm, but Yale supplies one anyway. So, I was supposed to call some people to pick it up and dispose of it, but I didn't. So, then we got stuck with it. I asked your Dad to store it for me, but he wouldn't. So, finally I came home and shoved it up into the attic and I haven't seen it since."

"Yale didn't need it back?"

"I'm still waiting for the day I come home to hear _that_ angry message on the machine."

As they finished with the sheets Lorelai called Rory again.

By 6:00 April and Jenny were almost done with their Civil War Timeline. Throughout the afternoon, Lorelai stopped in to check on the girls a few times, offering snacks. Between snack offerings, Lorelai sat in the living room watching movies, getting so engrossed that she'd forgotten to call Rory for four straight hours.

Luke, April, Jenny, and Lorelai sat finishing up their dinner at the kitchen table when Lorelai jumped up, "Oh shoot! I haven't called Rory since 3:00!" She walked quickly to the phone and dialed.

"Mom?" Rory answered, "I was getting kind of worried about you."

"Yeah, I started watching You've Got Mail around 3:00 and it sort of snowballed from there."

"I see. Well, Logan should be here any minute. We're going out for my birthday. So, the next six calls will have to be messages."

"Okay, kind of boring, so I'll have to think of a way to spice them up."

"Whatever floats your boat."

"K, Hun. Happy Birthday."

"Thanks, Mom," Rory labored.

"Say hi to Logan for me."

"Will do, talk to you tomorrow."

"Bye, Rory."

* * *

April and Jenny started to watch The Breakfast Club in the living room while Lorelai and Luke cleaned up the kitchen after dinner. 

"Good day?" Luke asked.

"Not bad," Lorelai smiled.

"How were April and Jenny?"

"Fine, they just worked mostly. You know, I heard some giggles, but they're smart. They could have been laughing about their project."

"Yeah," Luke agreed.

"Although, it was about the Civil War. Civil. Not really funny though. So, they were probably just having a good time. No harm in that."

Lorelai had finished washing the dishes and Luke was still drying and putting away.

"Whatcha gonna do?" Lorelai inquired.

"There's a Sox game that started like ten minutes ago. I'm gonna head upstairs."

"K, well, as tempting as a sporting experience is...I'm gonna hang with the girls for a bit and I'll join you later. K?"

"Sure, have fun." He kissed her cheek and she headed into the living room, sitting on the far side of the couch, April in the middle, Jenny on the other side.

Luke passed them and went upstairs after saying goodnight a few minutes later.

Lorelai got up to call Rory about five minutes after that. She left only a one syllable message. "Hap--" She then returned to the girls and their movie, but excused herself again twenty minutes later to leave, "--py."

At about five of 8:00, Lorelai offered the girls some ice cream. Pausing the movie, all three went to the kitchen fixing themselves bowls of ice cream and topping them with gummy bears, marshmallows, chocolate sauce, and sprinkles. April and Jenny returned to the couch, but Lorelai stayed behind for a moment to leave, "Birth," for Rory.

Once Lorelai got to the living room, April pressed play, smiling quickly at Lorelai.

"Oh," Lorelai said surprised as she sat down. "Thanks for waiting."

"Sure," both April and Jenny replied.

In the next forty minutes, Lorelai left two more messages for her daughter. They contained the syllables, "day" and "Ror" respectively.

At ten of 9:00, Lorelai went to the kitchen and made some popcorn in the microwave. As the beeps sounded and the final cornels popped in the paper bag within the microwave, Lorelai took two water bottles from the refrigerator and set them beside the plastic bowl she'd placed there moments before. Thirty seconds later, she headed into the living room with her popcorn and water and said goodnight to the girl as the movie continued to play on the screen. "G'night, girls. See you in the AM."

"Calling it a night now, Lorelai?" Jenny asked. "Just as the movie's reaching its climax?" She almost seemed disappointed to be losing the woman's company.

"Yup, I'm going to let you guys discover this life-changing moment on your own. At some point I just have to know when to throw you out the window and see if you'll fly," she joked.

"Night," April and Jenny laughed as their attention shifted back towards the screen.

* * *

"Hey, Babe," Lorelai said as she climbed onto the bed beside Luke as he watched the TV in the corner. 

"Hey," he replied and rested his left hand on Lorelai's right thigh as her legs stretched straight out next to his -- both of them sitting up, back to the pillows.

Lorelai handed Luke a water bottle and put the bowl of popcorn on his lap. She reached for some and put a handful in her mouth before asking, "We winning?" as if she even had a clue which team Luke considered, "we."

"Nope," Luke answered, not taking his eyes off the TV.

"Rats!" Lorelai pretended to care for a minute, eliciting a smile from Luke.

They both opened their water and took a sip, continuing to munch on the popcorn. Even Lorelai watched the baseball game on the screen. She, however, was comprehending little to nothing that was going on. Her eyes simply drifted towards the lighted screen like a bug and a campground lantern. Her real attention, though, was paid to Luke's hand rubbing her thigh. She was inexplicaby happy that she could be so completely satisfied spending a quiet Saturday night with her husband and his kid. She sat wishing this moment would never end, but knowing that when it did, equally satisfying or greater moments would follow.

When 9:00 arrived, Lorelai patted Luke lightly on the thigh twice before rolling to her left and grabbing the phone from the nightstand. Luke watched as she dialed Rory's number for the 22nd time that day.

Lorelai only said, "--ry," into the phone and then hung up, settling back in with Luke.

He turned to her and asked, "What was that?"

"It was my last Twenty Second Birthday Call to Rory," she answered simply.

"All you said was, 'ree--'" he said in an attempt to imitate the sound.

"Yeah," she justified, "it was the last syllable."

"Huh?" Luke said, though his confused face said it for him.

"For the last six calls Rory's been out with Logan, so she hasn't answered. So, instead of just saying, "Happy Birthday" six more times --"

"'Cause that's what she'd expect you to do," Luke cut in, but Lorelai continued to explain.

"I decided to say, 'Happy Birthday, Rory.'"

"And that's not just as dull?" Luke wondered.

Lorelai didn't even bother playing hurt, "Why are you questioning this?" She almost laughed at his ignorance.

"I have no idea. Continue," Luke admitted in defeat.

"So, in the last six calls I split up, 'Happy Birthday, Rory,' and I said one syllable of it in each call."

"'Cause it's six syllables long," Luke justified.

"Exactly."

"Clever," Luke nodded in approval.

"Yeah, well..." Lorelai acted proud of herself for coming up with this little game she'd been playing.

"So," Luke started, "Done with the Rory calls?"

"Unless she's not twenty-two!" Lorelai gasped. "No, no...2006 minus 22 is 1984. That's when Rory was born. We're good." She smiled.

"Good," Luke's hand rubbed Lorelai's thigh aimlessly for a few more minutes as their eyes drifted back towards the TV.

The popcorn slowly disappeared from the bowl between them. The Red Sox's opponent soon scored a few more runs, putting the home team even farther behind.

Sick of this, Luke said, "I've seen enough," as he clicked off the TV with the remote and tossed it onto the night stand on his right.

"Yeah?" Lorelai asked, a smile creeping onto her face. "You'd rather focus on your ravishing wife who's been silently suffering, craving your attention?"

Luke did not respond verbally, he just leaned towards Lorelai's approaching lips as he smiled at her.

The bowl was uncomfortably trapped between them as Lorelai's left arm was thrown over Luke's right shoulder. Luke's right hand rested on Lorelai's waist and hers supported her weight in their awkward sitting position. Luke's left arm did the same. Soon though, Luke detached his right hand from Lorelai only to rid them of the obstacle that was the empty popcorn bowl. Their lips parted momentarily while Luke turned to place the bowl beside the discarded clicker. When he turned back to Lorelai, they both lowered themselves to lie on their sides facing each other on the bed. Lorelai reached for Luke and pulled herself closer to him. Her arm was once again thrown over his shoulder. She kissed his lips softly but with much intent. She tasted the salt on his lips left behind by the popcorn. Her tongue grazed his bottom lip before his mouth opened wider to make room for its dueling partner.

The bedroom was lit only by a small bed-side lamp. It gave a light glow to the room as the couple enjoyed each other. Neither felt any need to push their encounter too much farther. Both just wanted to be close.

Luke's hand traveled from Lorelai's waist to the waist of her pants, over her hip and back towards the back pockets of her sweatpants. His hand rested where her leg met her behind. His thumb caressed the small radius it could reach with Luke's hand in a stationary position. Soon, Lorelai moaned slightly into Luke's mouth and inched her left leg slowly over Luke's right. Luke's right leg then mimicked the movement as he brought it forward between Lorelai's legs. Lorelai moaned again, still softly, as she felt Luke's denim-covered leg push slowly up and between hers -- sensitive areas shielded only by thin cotton. She hugged him tightly before pulling her lips from his to breathe. Her nose touched the tip of his and she whispered, "I love you, Luke."

Luke returned Lorelai's wide smile, attached his lips to hers once more and pulled her left leg to rest higher on his hip as his right leg also moved upwards. He mentally chuckled because the intensity of her kiss illustrated the effect his movements had on her.

A while later, they laid in the same position but just stared at each other adoringly. Small smiles of contentment covered their faces.

Both thought only about how their life had changed so much over the last few years. So long they had danced around each other. So long they had denied what they felt for each other. Once they finally discovered their mutual passion, it still took years to reach this point of complete happiness.

Somehow, though, the lovers thought there was still something missing.

* * *

Anyone else watching Samantha Who? It's pretty good. I love Melissa McCarthy. Whenever I talk about the show, I call her Sookie though. :) 


	10. Looking Forward

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from Gilmore Girls are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

_Hey, I just realized this one should have been part of the last chapter. It's not really long enough to be on it's own, and it kind of has the end to the events of the last chapter. So, here it is and sorry it's short._

* * *

Lorelai's smile grew suddenly as they laid there, as close together as they could be while both remained fully clothed. Luke waited for the explanation he knew would come. 

"Our kids are going to be gorgeous," Lorelai admitted with as much seriousness as she could muster.

Luke rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Luke," Lorelai begged agonizingly. "You know they will be. We're damn hot!"

"And obviously _damn_ humble too," he joked.

"Fine," Lorelai said in mock anger.

"No, no. Really, there's nothing I'd love more than when the nurse hands me our baby to hold for the first time for her to say, "Congratulations, Daddy! This kid's a hotty!"

"So, is the nurse a lesbian (a/n "Not that there's anything wrong with that. :) ), or does you're mind's eye see a son in our future?" Lorelai asked.

"Well," Luke said after the eye roll -- a given after that comment, "I wouldn't hate having a son. I mean, we already have Rory and April, so that's two girls."

"Don't forget Jess," Lorelai reminded him.

"He's my nephew," Luke pointed out.

"Still, I think he counts as a 'son' experience," Lorelai justified.

"Okay -- but that's still two to one."

"What about Paul Anka?" Lorelai asked. "That makes it two to two."

"You're counting Paul Anka as a son of mine?" Luke laughed.

"Well, he's certainly not a _real_ dog," Lorelai reasoned.

"However, I've also never heard him say, 'I'm a _real_ boy!'" Luke joked. Lorelai laughed at his Disney-movie reference. "Believe it or not, I'd still like a son," Luke finished.

"Too many girls running around?"

"At least in this house, there are. Can you imagine if we had another Gilmore Girl?" Luke asked.

"Well, this one would be a Gilmore-Danes Girl, but I'm sure she'd fit right in. She'd have you wrapped around her finger just like the elder Gilmore Girls."

"Mm, that's what I'm afraid of," Luke admitted playfully. They exchanged smiled again.

"So?" Lorelai asked a few minutes later, "You want a boy?"

"And you want another girl," Luke stated.

"I'd be happy with either...or both," Lorelai said.

"Me too," Luke agreed, "but let's try to at least get one before we start talking about another." Luke said this in a way that was supposed to be light-hearted and saying, "Yikes! That's a lot of little kids running around!" but Lorelai didn't take it that way.

She immediately frowned and looked away from Luke's smiling face. Luke's smile faded quickly as Lorelai detached herself from Luke, pulling out of their tight embrace, rolling to her left, and sitting up on the bed. She rubbed her eyes for a moment as she sat at the edge of the bed with her feet on the floor, facing away from Luke.

Luke sat up as Lorelai did. He watched her stand up and walk towards her dresser. She remained silent.

Luke followed Lorelai and grabbed her arm softly in an attempt to turn her around. She resisted, again pulling away from Luke's touch.

"Hey," Luke said softly, trying to get her to turn to him.

Lorelai did not respond.

"Lorelai? What's going on? Are you okay?" Worry covered Luke's face quickly.

Lorelai again did not turn to Luke. She rummaged through her drawer, looking for pajamas.

"Lorelai. Talk to me," Luke pleaded

"It's nothing. I'm tired. Let's go to sleep." Lorelai's response was cold and emotionless as she walked towards the bathroom.

"Lorelai, stop," Luke commanded, not harshly, but also not pleadingly.

Finally, Lorelai turned to look at him. Exhaustion covered her face as she asked, "What?"

"What's going on, Lorelai? Did I say something? What did I say?" Luke caught up to her and took her hand. She again pulled it away and turned to the bathroom door. She held the doorknob in her hand as she turned to him.

"Nothing," she sighed and closed the door slowly.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Luke grabbed the doorknob and opened it again, refusing to take Lorelai's answer.

"Luke?" Lorelai said as if she was wondering why he'd opened the door.

"No, Lorelai," he said firmly but not angrily. "Tell me what I said that upset you."

She shook her head slowly as her eyes closed. She lifted her non-pajama-filled hand to her forehead.

"I don't know," she admitted.

Luke didn't ask, "What?" knowing she'd continue.

"I just, I know you didn't mean it the way I took it, but I can't..." her sentence trailed off. "I feel like all I'm ever thinking about anymore is how I'm _not_ getting pregnant, Luke. It's _not_ happening."

"I'll happen," Luke cut in encouragingly, without a thought.

It was obvious that Lorelai had more to say on the topic, but she didn't finish. She just continued to shake her head slowly as Luke said, "Lorelai, it's only been two months. That's not that long. You could be pregnant right now," he offered.

"I know," Lorelai said lamely.

"Okay," Luke took a step closer to her. "Then let's not worry yet. Please?"

"Yeah," Lorelai agreed reluctantly.

"Good," Luke said as he wrapped his arms around her.

Both of them knew this problem was not resolved, but they were momentarily happy with the resolution they'd come to. They'd both continue to worry, but they were satisfied pretending to believe the other was not.

Luke pulled back and they smiled lightly to each other.

"Let's go back to happy," Lorelai suggested weakly, "we were having a nice time a few minutes ago."

"Sounds good to me," Luke agreed.

"Okay," Lorelai smiled, more sincerely this time. "I'm gonna change."

"Sure," Luke agreed, turning to change his own clothes.

He was satisfied to see that the bathroom door stayed open.

Lorelai's sweatpants and t-shirt were replaced by yellow, flannel PJ's with autumn leaves on them. She finished getting ready for bed in the bathroom as Luke changed into just boxers, not being one to get cold easily -- or so he justified to himself.

"What's with you?" Lorelai asked playfully as Luke entered the bathroom to brush his teeth. The few minutes alone seemed to have let her return to herself pre mini-breakdown. Luke noticed this and was happy to see it.

"What?" he asked.

"You never wear just boxers to bed," Lorelai scoffed.

"Sure I do," Luke disagreed.

"Not with me. Who else do you go to bed with? You always wear sweatpants and a t-shirt."

"Not when it's hot," Luke said.

"When it's hot, you wear cut-off sweatpants," Lorelai pointed out.

"So? What's the difference?" Luke asked with his natural level of annoyance.

"Nothing," Lorelai laughed slightly.

Luke nodded in approval as if he'd won.

However, Lorelai then added, "Except that boxers are underwear, not shorts, and it's October. It's not hot."

"Fine," Luke said, stopping his face-washing to look at Lorelai. "Would you like me to change?"

"No," Lorelai laughed.

"You sure?" Luke tested.

"Yes," she insisted.

"Okay then." With this, Luke left the bathroom.

Lorelai just watched him as she shook her head smiling. She closed the bathroom door, still smiling. After going to the bathroom and washing her hands, Lorelai was still thinking about Luke's sexy sleep-wear because for Luke, boxers alone _were_ sexy sleep-wear. She noticed a silky, short brown night gown, that on her came to the middle of her thigh at best, that hung on a hook next to the shower. She had worn it a few nights ago.

A small, devilish smile resided on Lorelai's face as she opened the bathroom's door a minute later and flicked off its light. As Luke lay in bed, he watched her emerge.

"What happened to the leaves?" he asked.

"What happened to the sweat pants?" she countered.

"Oh, here we go again."

"I thought you'd like this better," Lorelai smiled and climbed into bed with him.

They faced each other as they conversed.

"Oh yeah?" Luke asked, going along.

"Yeah, I knew you were telling me something with those boxers. I can take a hint," she assured him.

"Oh, enough with the boxers," Luke sighed, eyes off and rolling. "Can a man not wear boxers to bed with out questioning?"

"Yes, you can. I'm sorry, Baby," she patronized him.

They shared a brief but warm smile before leaning in for their good-night kiss.

Luke then turned to his other side to turn off the bed-side light. As he did, Lorelai turned her back to him. Luke returned to face Lorelai again and they settled in together. Their knees bent and fit perfectly together -- Luke's chest to Lorelai's back. They slept close together like legos. Luke held Lorelai tight as he played with the silk material of Lorelai's dress. She played with the hairs on his arm as he did this. They both lay contently. Smiling, Luke whispered, "I'm glad you changed."

Lorelai chuckled softly as she noticed Luke's hand move from the material at her stomach to the very little that covered her breasts.

"Night, Luke," she whispered back.

"Love you," he responded.

"I love you too, Baby." Her smile spread quickly across her face as it did every time they exchanged those words.

"I love you too, Baby," were perhaps her _favorite_ six syllables to say.

* * *

_So, you all did realize that it was a Seinfeld reference, right? Anyone? "Not that there's anything wrong with that."_

_So, I have come to the end of the chapters that I typed this summer. The rest of the story (that's written so far) is just written in notebooks. So, updates might be a little slower because I'd like to have chapters around my usual length, but now I'll have to type and proofread them where I've just had to proof the first 10._

_Also, sorrry for the attack vs. attic in the last chapter. I meant to fix that before I posted it, but I forgot. It's fixed now, if anyone really cares._


	11. Simple, Light Hearted, Teenage Worries

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from Gilmore Girls are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

_And, once again, I apologize for a long time between updates and a short chapter. I should have had this one with the last one...same old story. Anyway, I'm excited about getting the next one out, because I had fun writing it. This one...I hope you all like it. It's just an April chapter, but it really had nothing to do with what comes next, so I had to leave it on its own._

_Please enjoy._

* * *

Meanwhile, downstairs. 

The movie ended at about 9:30. Once it finished, Jenny and April brought their trash and dirty dishes to the kitchen, shut off all electricity-sucking inventions that are usually turned off during the night, and retired to Rory's room.

April lay on the bed beneath the covers as Jenny did the same on the mattress on the floor.

They talked about anything and everything, eventually landing on...

"So? Do you like staying here?"

April responded, "Yeah, it's cool. It's different from home, but it's nice."

"Is it weird having a dad after so long without one?"

"Um," April said surprised.

"Oh, sorry. I guess that was kind of rude. I'm sorry, April, you know, for making you think about it and now for continuing to talk about it." Jenny apologized sincerely.

"It's okay," April smiled. "Really," She insisted when Jenny's facial expression didn't lighten. "Honestly?" April asked, answering her friend's question anyway, "I didn't think that much about not having a dad before. I mean sure, it was hard when I was little and everyone else's dad taught them how to play baseball or something, but those feelings passed once I remembered that I hate sports. And I always loved life with my mom, so it never seemed like too big a deal."

Jenny listened intently as April continued thoughtfully. Both girls knew that although April started this under the pretence of answering a curious friend, she continued because it was something she'd never said out loud before and she needed to let someone know how she felt. She needed to let herself know how she felt.

"But now, now that I've met Luke, I just...I don't think I could go back. I mean, now I'd miss him if he left. But I'm not really worried about that. And I certainly don't blame Luke because he didn't know about me, so it wasn't his fault I was fatherless for the first twelve years of my life. I don't think that's how it would have been if he had had a choice."

Jenny nodded in agreement, letting her friend get this off her chest.

"And another thing, I really don't want to be mad at my mom either because I understand why she kept me from Luke, but..." She trailed off, thinking, and then began again, "No," she stated firmly, "I'm not _even_ gonna go there. My mom wanted the best for me. I'm fine with that. I'm not mad at her."

Although it sounded to Jenny that April was trying to deny her feelings, she'd seen April and Anna together and knew April could never really be angry with her. "Yeah," Jenny agreed calmly, "Luke seems cool."

"He is," April assured, "But I think Lorelai helps with that. I bet he'd be one of those over-protective, crazy dads if not for her."

"Yeah, she seems _really_ cool," Jenny said energetically, smiling.

"I like her a lot. She's fun, and I know she makes my dad happy."

They were silent for a few moments until Jenny asked, "What was she doing tonight?"

"Lorelai?" April checked. "What do you mean?"

"She kept leaving the room every twenty minutes."

"Oh, she was using the phone."

"Who was she calling? That's a lot of calls," Jenny inquired.

"Her daughter. It's her birthday."

"Lorelai has a daughter? Where is she? Why doesn't she live here?" Jenny was surprised.

"She's a senior in college," April explained. "She's 22. Her name is Rory."

"Lorelai has a 22-year-old daughter?" Jenny's surprise just kept growing.

"Yeah, today's her birthday that's why Lorelai kept calling her. It's some tradition that they have. She had to call Rory 22 times today."

"Oh, so, wait. How old's Lorelai? 'Cause she seems young."

"She is; she's 38."

"Oh my God, so she had Rory when she was 16?"

"Yeah," April said.

"That's only two years older than me."

"Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction...I think that's pretty much everyone's reaction," April laughed.

After a bit, Jenny started again, "Have you met Rory? What's she like."

"Rory's cool too. She's a lot like Lorelai. They're really funny together. Rory's smart too. She goes to Yale," April said, then pointed towards the Yale wall in the bedroom. "This is Rory's room."

"Oh, yeah," Jenny said with a "duh" sort of tone, "I noticed it didn't really seem like you, but for some reason I didn't put it together that it could be someone else's room."

"I'm actually getting my own room here soon. They're adding on two more bedrooms. I'll probably get the one downstairs, but there'll be one upstairs too."

"Who's will that be?" Jenny inquired.

"Why? Looking to move in?" April joked.

"Maybe," Jenny said laughing.

"It's for their baby," April explained.

"They're having a baby? That's so cute," Jenny squeaked.

"Yeah," April said. "Well, not really yet, I mean they want to have a baby, but I don't think Lorelai's pregnant yet. Or, at least not as of about a week ago, but I try not to think about that -- especially not since I heard them..." April's voice died out there.

"Oh my God, you heard them, like..."

"Yup. Unfortunately so," April nodded.

"When?" Jenny asked.

"A few days ago," April sighed.

"Yikes. Well, the three of you seem to have gotten over it. Wait. Did they know you heard them?"

"Yeah, they found out, but oh well. It's over now, and nothing since so..."

"Ugh!...I've never heard my parents, but I know they do it, and I walked in once when I was like...seven...but I didn't know what they were doing. Or at least not really, like...I knew they were kissing, and that was enough incentive for me to leave. But then later, like a few years later, I realized what they were doing. Like...one day it just hit me for some reason. And now...thank God they have this thing they do, or say really, whenever they're gonna go upstairs and...anyway. It just don't go in their room unless I know they aren't in there together, and I quickly disappear into my room and blast the stereo whenever I know they're going to."

"What do they say?" April asked.

"One of them says they're going upstairs to watch the cooking channel. Then the other follows like a two minutes later."

"Okay," Aril half asked, wondering how Jenny knows that's what it meant.

As if reading April's mind, Jenny continued, "I know that's what they're doing because my dad hates to cook and my mom's a chef, part time, and she insists that none of the chefs on TV have any idea what they're talking about. Plus they always come back downstairs like 45 minutes later with goofy smiles. And? What TV show lasts 45 minutes?"

"Hmm, maybe I should see if my dad and Lorelai have a signal," April suggests.

"They probably don't yet, since they haven't needed one yet. Check with me when their kid is 14 years old. I'll bet that he or she can tell you the signal."

"I'll be sure to do that," April said.

"Okay then," Jenny smiled.

After a few minutes of silence, they decided to go to sleep, and April turned off the light.

Both were still awake five minutes later when Jenny gasped, "Oh God!"

"What?" April asked, not sure whether to be worried or to laugh.

"I bet they're doing it now."

"Who?" April chose laughing.

"My parents," Jenny said disgusted. "Because I heard my mom say something to my dad as we left the house to come over here this afternoon."

"Yeah?" April asked.

"I definitely heard her say something about Rachel Ray."

"Oh jeez," April sighed.

"Yeah, I really wish that hadn't dawned on me."

"Yeah, me too," April agreed, with a disgusted expression on her face.

A moment later, Jenny said, "You don't think Luke and Lorelai are, do you?"

"No, I really don't think they would with both of us down here."

"They did it before," Jenny worried aloud. "What's to stop them now?"

"Well, Lorelai said before that they wouldn't while I was here. I think they just slipped or something the other night. I don't think them doing that while I'm here is the rule so much as an isolated exception."

"Good," Jenny said, "I hope so."

"Me too," April admitted. "Plus," she added after a minute of silence, "I think we'd be able to hear Lorelai."

Silence filled the room...loudly.

"I don't hear anything," Jenny whispered.

"Me either, but let's try not to think about it," April suggested.

"And go to sleep, just in case?" Jenny added.

"Yeah, good idea."

A minute later, both girls knew that the other was no closer to sleep, so April started again, "How'd we get onto this joyful topic?"

A moment later, "Lorelai making calls; Lorelai has a daughter; this is Rory's room; you'll have you're own room; two new rooms; Lorelai's not pregnant yet; bam," came Jenny's groggy response.

"Oh yeah," April said yawning. "Sorry about that," she apologized, taking responsibility for starting the uncomfortable conversation that seemed to drag on much longer than either hoped, wanted, or intended.

"No problem. I asked about the calls," Jenny yawned.

"Night, Jenny."

"G'night," Jenny responded as April rolled over and began to fall asleep.

* * *

_I'd love to get you guys another chapter today, but my new Gilmore Girls DVD's are calling, and it seems highly unlikely that I'll be able to pull myself away, even if it is just the 7th season. :)_


	12. A Ghost

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from Gilmore Girls are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

_Okay, well I hope you enjoy because I had a lot of fun writing this part (which doesn't come to an end at the end of this chapter). There's still a bunch more that can be considered "this part."_

_I hope you enjoyed. And thank you for the reviews. :)_

* * *

It was Friday, October 20. Lorelai sat at home reading a book, Letters from a Nut. She sat with her legs crossed like a pretzel on the couch with her back to the armrest. The TV could be heard softly in the background, and she glanced up at it occasionally. 

It was 5:00. Luke was still at the diner, and April went to a friend's house after school. Lorelai planned to swing by to get her on her way home from Hartford.

Lorelai happened to Luke up at the TV just as a commercial played that probably would have caught her attention anyway.

_"Imagine: Knowing you're pregnant the moment it happens,"_ the commercial started, _"Science is getting closer. They found a hormone variant that better predicts early pregnancy. First Response detects it."_ Lorelai watched intently as the brunette on the screen continued, _"It tells you five days before your missed period. First Response. Discovering ways to tell you first."_

Sure, this was a commercial that played about twenty times a day. Sure, she'd seen it a thousand times before. Sure, it annoyed her to no end. Today though, it caught her attention. So much so, that she couldn't tare her eyes from the screen until the cute little dog started to sing, _"Hello, Mother. Hello, Father. Flees, ticks, mosquitoes..."_

After some quick mental calculations, Lorelai said aloud, "Hmh, five days..." and promptly returned to her book, refusing to let herself go where she was going.

When the same commercial played again fifteen minutes later, her full attention was once again grasped. Realizing once it ended that she had been reeled in again, she almost grunted in frustrations. "This is how they get you..." she mumbled. Her thoughts would not stray from this product even as she began reading another one of Ted L. Nancy's humorous letters. "It's a commercial," she said out loud, "it's supposed to grab your attention...make you think about it...make you remember it..."

Plus, she justified to herself, this was nowhere near as awful as the commercial that uttered the words, _"...the most sophisticated piece of technology you will ever pee on,"_ with complete seriousness. But when she heard those words coming from the TV after another fifteen minutes, she sighed, "Okay. Now you're just mocking me." She reached for the clicker and turned off the TV in a "so there" sort of way as if she had won a dispute with it. She slammed the book closed in a huff, threw it onto the coffee table, and stood up from the couch. She made her way upstairs, justifying that it was time to get ready for dinner anyway.

She left the house about forty-five minutes later, after showering and getting ready. She gave herself extra time because she planned to stop at a pharmacy in Hartford on the way because she'd need some Halloween candy eventually and as she read the news paper that morning she'd noticed a fifty percent off sale on Halloween candy at this particular store in a flier inside the paper. She'd decided to stop on the way to dinner, figuring it was a win-win -- money saved and Taylor annoyed. Nothing, she knew, got Taylor more agitated than the fine citizens of Stars Hollow buying Doose's Market products anywhere other than at Doose's.

At about twenty minutes of 7:00, Lorelai entered the pharmacy. She walked briskly towards the candy, choosing 10 or 11 bags of different candy. "Whatever the kids don't eat, I will," she justified as she threw them into the basket hung on her arm. Noticing the time and not wanting to be early to a dinner with her parents, she wandered around the store for a few minutes. "It's only five minutes to the house, and even ten extra minutes with them is too much," she thought.

Lorelai rolled her eyes and sighed as she found herself in an aisle full of feminine products and pregnancy tests. She looked from one test to the other eventually spotting the First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test. "Great now _it's _mocking me," she thought. She tossed one into the basket to quiet the imaginary mocking. She sighed again at the situation she was in and turned towards the front of the store, walking dramatically down the aisle. Her eye was caught by a light pink box on a shelf to her right only three steps later. She reached down and tossed one of those in too, thinking, "So that I won't have to come back in five days."

The teenage girl behind the check out counter didn't appear to think much of Lorelai's pregnancy test purchase until she noticed the box of tampons as she rang it up next. She eyed Lorelai suspiciously as Lorelai fished out the money.

"Yeah, I know," Lorelai smiled lamely, "It's probably pretty rare that a woman buys those to products at once."

The girl just kind of nodded in a "the customer's always right" sort of way. "Oh," she said a few seconds later, realizing what Lorelai was talking about. "No, I was just thinking: that's a lot of candy."

Lorelai rolled her eyes, grabbed the two plastic bags from the counter top, and turned to leave as she muttered, "Great, and to top it all off, I'm now paranoid."

* * *

"Have fun?" Lorelai asked with a smile as she pulled out of April's friend's driveway at 9:45 that night. 

"Yup, we ate Chinese food, watched the science channel, and then did three of the "additional experiments" in the back of out Biology text book," April shared with enthusiasm.

"Cool," Lorelai said with a a smile that said, "Is that a legitimate reaction to her night. Will she buy that I'd consider that a 'cool' night? Does she realize that I have no clue whether or not _she_ even considers that a 'cool' night?"

"Yeah, I know," April said, becoming a mind reader, "not the average Friday night of two 13-year-old girls."

"Well," Lorelai said, "I wouldn't worry about it. When I was 13 my Friday nights were closer to _going_ to the Chinese restaurant and camping out there all night to ogle the cute guy that worked there. So, yours is probably better."

April laughed, "Yeah, but much less accepted."

Somehow this comment struck a nerve with Lorelai, and she went off without warning, "It's not always about being accepted. Don't put yourself down, April. So what if you like science. If it keeps you out of trouble, it's a good thinking. I mean, if I'd had something I loved when I was younger, I might have turned out different. I mean everything turned out wonderful, but it's not like I'd advise you to get pregnant at 16. It's good that you ahve something. There's a lot of people who aren't doing so well becuase they don't." Lorelai spoke harshly though April was not entirely deserving.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry."

"Don't apologize," Lorelai snapped back.

The car fell silent for a while.

"How was _your_ night?" April asked as while later in an attempt to break the silence.

"Ah, well, normal. Nothing special," Lorelai admitted truthfully.

"That's probably for the best," April tried with a laugh.

Lorelai gave no response.

A few minutes later April said, "Hey, Lorelai. Are you okay?"

"Fine," Lorelai said, not bothering to force a smile.

"You sure?" April asked again, hoping Lorelai wouldn't get mad at her for asking.

"Yup," Lorelai said, slightly edgy. "Tired...it's late."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry," April said.

"For what?" Lorelai still acted agitated.

"Well you picked me up which kept you out later."

"It's not a problem." This comment was unconvincing.

"Okay." April's voice was small and weak.

After a few more minutes April said, "Music? You wanna turn on the radio?" Trying desperately to lighten the mood.

"Sure, put on whatever you want."

April laughed, "Are you sure about that? Because I like country...but I know you don't."

"Country's fine," Lorelai said with no emotion.

"Okaaaay," April said this as if it was some type of warning. She flipped on the radio, eventually finding a a local country station.

_"Up next,"_ the announcer said, _"an early one from Phil Vassar..."_ As the opening tune to "Just Another Day in Paradise" began to play, April spoke.

"Oh, this is a good one."

With nothing else to do, Lorelai listened to the lyrics. She rolled her eyes, thinking, "Jeez, what's up today? It's like I'm being haunted by The Ghost of The-Life-I'll-Never-Have."

_"You know what?"_ The announcer said casually, _"Why not another Phil Vassar?"_

"Why not?" Lorelai mocked sarcastically.

April laughed, "Do you wanna change it?"

"It's fine," Lorelai waved it off, "I make you and Luke listen to my stuff all the time. It's only fair."

A minute later when Lorelai heard the singers voice saying, _"one night she came to me with tears in her eyes and an E.P.T," _she muttered, "Oh, now, come on!"

"What?" April asked.

"Nothing!" Lorelai said, possibly too quickly, when she realized she'd said that one out loud. "Stupid drivers!" She covered pathetically.

April didn't buy that one, but she just decided to let it go, thinking Lorelai seemed to be in a mood where she could be easily aggravated tonight if too much questioning came her way.

A while later, April noticed the bags of candy by her feet.

"Wow!" She laughed, "That's a _lot_ of Halloween candy!"

"That _seems_ to be the consensus," Lorelai mumbled, agitated.

"Okay, I think I'm just gonna shut up now," April meant to think but said aloud.

"No," Lorelai started apologetically. "April I'm sorry. I'm just in a mood. I've got a lot on my mind, and it's been a weird day."

"That's okay," April assured. "And hey? It's the weekend, right?" April's attempt to cheer Lorelai up was appreciated.

Lorelai replied, "Yeah, thanks."

As they entered Stars Hollow, April said, "I think I'll help clean up at Luke's, if you don't mind dropping me off."

"Oh, sure," Lorelai said, pulling over.

April started to grab her backpack from the back seat.

"Just leave that," Lorelai said with a smile. "I'll bring it in the house."

"Great. Thanks, Lorelai," April said as she put in on the front seat. "And thank you for picking me up."

"Sure," Lorelai smiled. "It was no problem."

"K. Well then, I'll see you later."

"Have fun," Lorelai said.

"Oh, I will," April joked, closing the Jeep's door and walking into the diner where Luke stood behind the counter, wiping it down.

Luke looked up, asking, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was hoping for a warmer atmosphere than I got in the car, but judging by your greeting, that might be out of the question."

Luke dropped his rag, rounded the counter and pulled April into a hug. "No, Sweetie, I'm sorry, I'd love for you to help, I just can't understand why you'd want to, although I guess now I know. What happened in the car?" Luke pulled away to listen to April's explanation.

"Oh, nothing really," April said as she started putting up the chairs and stools. Luke grabbed the broom and started sweeping. "Lorelai just seemed a little funny. Do you know if something's wrong?"

"I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary when she came in for lunch."

"Yeah," April agreed, "There was nothing different at breakfast either."

"Hm," Luke thought aloud. "Something must have happened. Did she say anything to you?"

" No she was just quiet, and a little grumpy. I don't know. She just wasn't her peppy self. The only think she said was something about having a 'weird day.'"

"Hm," Luke said again. "Well, it must have just been a weird afternoon because she didn't say anything at lunch, and she seemed fine."

"Well, make sure she's fine when we get home. Okay?"

"Yeah, thanks," Luke said with a smile.

* * *

_Okay, so it's a little short. But it's taken me a while to type it and edit and everything. The next few chapters will probably be about this length too. About 14 notebook pages each. _


	13. A Few More Ghosts

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from _Gilmore Girls_ are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

_Alright, here's another...I really have nothing else to say at the moment._

* * *

About a half hour later, Luke locked the door to the diner and they both got into the truck. 

"Hey," Luke started, turning towards April. "You wanna see if there's any places around still open to get some ice cream?"

"You have ice cream in the diner," April pointed out.

"Yeah, but it's only the tree boring flavors."

"Dad," April laughed, "you like vanilla."

"Okay, you're right, but _you_ like mint chocolate chip."

"Lorelai has mint chocolate chip at home," April reasoned.

"Oh, come on, let's just get crazy for one night and go _out_ to get ice cream."

April laughed at this, "I love that _getting crazy_ for you means going out to get ice cream with your daughter at 10:30 on a Friday night."

Luke laughed back, patted April's leg lightly, and said with wide eyes, "What would be really crazy is if we did it on a school night."

"Yeah," April agreed. "I think I saw a Friendly's open still on the way home."

About thirty minutes later, Luke and April stood in the food aisle of a twenty-four hour CVS right outside Stars Hollow.

Luke said, as they both stared into the freezer, 'There's Ben and Jerry's mint and _oreo_."

"Yeah, that sounds good," April agreed. "What are you gonna get?"

"I don't know, I don't really eat much ice cream."

"Hmm..." April started. "Well, I think you should get Phish Food." She opened the freezer and took out both containers. "Mostly because I want to try that one too."

"Phish Food it is," Luke agreed.

They got to the counter and April said, "Hey, Dad. What are we gonna eat these with?"

"Do you have plastic silver ware?" Luke asked the man behind the counter.

Pointing to the back of the store he said, "It's in aisle 7."

April ran off while look held the ice cream and returned a moment later with a plastic bag of assorted cutlery.

"Good job," Luke said.

They paid and went out to the truck. They both sat eating silently until Luke said, "Sorry we couldn't find a real ice cream place."

"Hey, as long as the ice cream's real," April offered.

Luke just smiled at her.

"Plus," April said, "it was fun."

"Yeah," Luke agreed.

"So?" April asked a minute later. "What are you gonna do with all these extra forks, knives, and spoons?"

Luke opened the glove compartment and tossed the bag in.

"We'll save them for next time." He smiled at April and then started the truck. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," April replied with a yawn. "I'm tired."

"Me too," Luke said. "Long week."

"I had a total of four tests and three quizzes," April offered.

"Kirk at thirteen meals at the diner since Monday," Luke offered in response.

"You win," April said. "Your week was definitely longer."

* * *

When Lorelai reached the house, she grabbed April's backpack and the bag of candy before opening the glove compartment and taking out the other pharmacy bag that she'd hidden in there. 

When she got inside, she dropped the candy on the kitchen table . She then brought April's bag into Rory's room and hung it on the chair at the desk.

Still holding the other bag, she climbed the stairs. She walked into the bathroom, tossing the bag onto the counter. She put on some sweatpants and a long-sleeve T-shirt and walked back into the bathroom. She started brushing her teeth, trying to avoid looking down at the bag. Finally putting the tooth brush back into its cup, she just stood staring at the bag. She opened it and tossed the first box under he sink. She held the crumpled up bag in her hand. She dropped it onto the counter finally and reached towards the pregnancy test slowly. She opened it, simply staring at its contents.

Ten minutes later, she looked at the test's digital screen. She sighed and tossed it in the trash along with the box. She looked at herself in the mirror for a minute. She then grabbed the plastic bag again and tossed it in the trash too. Taking a deep breath, she reached for a ponytail holder and put her hair in a mess of a bun. She took another deep breath as she shut off the bathroom light. Refusing to let the tear in her eye slip down her cheek, she crawled into bed and turned on the TV.

Immediately, the words, "I'm a big kid now!" escaped the speakers in a song as the diaper commercial ended. Lorelai rolled her eyes. She could have managed to forget it and just watch TV, but when she turned the channel, another commercial for Always products ended with the words, "Have a happy period."

"Aah!" Lorelai almost yelled as she turned the TV off. "I really need to start watching sports where they only show beer and truck commercials. No commercials to mock me during a sports game." She then turned to the book on her night stand. It being the same book as earlier, full of letters some guy (obviously bored and without a job, hobby, or wife) wrote to various businesses about completely ridiculous matters that he made up just to see if the business, would respond, there was absolutely no way it could mock her. It simply mocked itself. There was no room for any outward mocking when so much internal mocking was being done already, she reasoned.

They book did a satisfactory job of holding her attention for a while. Eventually, though, it could no longer distract her from her state of slight depression.

At around 10:45, she sank down on the bed, tossing the book to the side. She lay there eyes wide for about thirty minutes.

Why was she so upset? She knew the answer, but she couldn't justify it. She had almost everything she'd ever wanted. She was living a lovely life with a man she loved. He loved her equally as much and was giving her everything she'd ever wanted. Almost.

No. She stopped herself from going there. he did all he could for her. This was not Luke's fault. Was it her fault? Lorelai entertained this thought for a moment. Was there something she was doing wrong? After a while of this, she tired to drive her mind away from this place, knowing that asking questions such as these would get her nowhere. They would only upset her more.

So, she refocused her attention. She thought about the man she loved. The man she shared her bed with, her house with, her life with.

She thought about the girl she was coming to love. Although not her daughter, Lorelai still loved her. She thought about how this girl confided in Lorelai, really listening to her. She thought about things she'd shared with this girl, what this girl had shared with her. She felt regret the moment she thought about how she'd made that girl feel unwanted tonight. Although it was unintentional, Lorelai knew her silence had hurt April. She made a mental note to apologize again tomorrow morning.

Next, Lorelai thought about the girl she'd raised. The girl she loved more than life itself. This was the girl she'd watched grow up from a tiny baby in her teenage mother's arms to the editor of an Ivy League College News Paper.

Finally, Lorelai couldn't keep her thoughts from returning to her want and need to feel that again. She wanted to take that 22-year journey again. She knew that the first was not over and that Rory would still need her. But, hell, she is only 38 years old. She can do it again. She should be able to do this again. This time -- with a man she loves who's by her side during every stop of that 22 plus year journey. It would not be a man she wanted to love who walked in and out of that journey whenever it suited him. This time they'd be there. Both together. Both there together.

So, she wondered finally, why couldn't she do this?

Lorelai decided to try to get some sleep, but just as she pulled the covers up and closed her eyes, she realized something. Sitting up in bed, she reached for the phone and dialed quickly.

"Hello?"

"Luke? Where are you it's like quarter past 11."

"Yeah, sorry, I took April for ice cream, but we had trouble finding an open place."

"Oh, okay, I was just worried."

"Sorry," he apologized sincerely.

"Well, where are you? Are you almost home?" At this she heard the front door close downstairs.

"I'll be right up," Luke said.

"K. Bye." Lorelai half smiled.

Once Luke said goodnight to April, he headed upstairs. Entering the bedroom, he walked over to Lorelai who sat in bed.

After kissing her quickly he said, "Sorry."

"Don't apologize," Lorelai said as Luke was getting changed. "I just didn't know where you were."

"Well, no where was open so we ended up just going to CVS and getting Ben and Jerry's."

"Oh, I can't picture you with Ben and Jerry's," Lorelai laughed.

"Yeah, well, I just did it for April. She was a little upset when she got to the diner tonight." Luke said this pointedly a couple minutes later when he emerged from the bathroom.

"Oh," Lorelai's face fell. "That's my fault, isn't it?"

"She said you seemed a little off."

"Yeah, I'll apologize again in the morning," she said, nodding her head.

"What happened?" Luke asked.

"Oh, nothing," Lorelai waved it off, sliding down on the bed.

"Well, it was obviously not nothing if you upset April."

"I was just a little crabby. That's all. I can't always be my chipper self. April's just never seen the grumpy side of me before."

"So you were upset?"

"No, I just had a weird day. It's nothing. I'm tired. I just want to go to sleep. Okay?" She pleaded.

"No," Luke said as he sat beside her laying figure. "We need to talk about this. Why won't you tell me what happened today?"

"_Nothing_ happened!"

"Lorelai, come on. I'm your husband. If something's wrong you can talk to me."

"Luke, I just want to sleep. It's 11:30, and I have to get up at 6:00 for work tomorrow."

"But," Luke said.

"No, if I want to talk, I'll talk. But right now, I just don't want to fight with you."

"We're not fighting. We're just talking."

"No, _you're_ trying to talk, and _I'm_ fighting it."

"Lorelai," Luke pleaded.

"No," Lorelai said sternly. "Sleep."

With this Luke just lay down. "Fine. G'night."

"Night," Lorelai said.

They fell asleep, both laying on their sides, back to back.

* * *

The next morning, Lorelai woke up by her alarm at 6:00. She reached over Luke to turn it off. He woke up, but she didn't bother to notice. Instead, she got directly out of bed and headed into the bathroom. Luke just lay awake in bed annoyed as he heard the shower begin to run. 

About ten minutes later, Luke got up and made his way into the bathroom also.

"Good morning," Luke said pointedly.

"Morning," Lorelai mumbled from the shower reluctantly.

Luke rolled his eyes and sighed.

Hearing this, Lorelai said, "I'll be out in a few minutes so that you can get in."

"You know," Luke said, leaning against the counter. "Most mornings you'd say, 'I still have a few minutes in here, come on in.'"

Lorelai let out a sigh of her own.

Luke just let that discussion die as he turned and wiped some condensation off the mirror.

Reaching for his razor, he said, "That's okay. I have to shave first anyway." He got no reply.

When he noticed the dullness of the razor, he took a new one off of a nearby shelf. Tossing the old one into the trash, he noticed the box.

Picking it out of the trash, he read its label. He looked inside, but found nothing. He rooted around in the bucket for a moment until he found its former contents.

The bold words "Not Pregnant" made him sigh again. "Oh man," he said softly, realizing what happened and looking towards the shower. His anger towards Lorelai melted and he suddenly felt sorry for her. His hand went to his forehead and he rubbed down his face. He frowned and set the test on the counter.

Just as Luke finished shaving, he heard the shower turn off. He wiped his face with a towel, took Lorelai's pregnancy test in his hand, and turned around to face the shower. The curtain opened and Lorelai reached for a towel to wrap around herself. After wringing out her hair and stepping onto the bathmat, she looked up at Luke.

Before she saw what was in his hand, he said, "What's this?" and held it out towards her.

Her head hung and she looked at her feet.

"Lorelai?" Luke asked again.

"You know what it is, it's a pregnancy test. I bought it yesterday, and I guess you can see what the answer was."

"Is this why you were upset?"

Lorelai didn't answer that. Instead she began, "Yesterday I was watching TV and pregnancy test ads kept coming on. One said it would tell me up to five days before I missed my period. And, those ads are so nagging. But. I don't know. I just wanted not to have to wait. So, when I went to the drugstore in Hartford to get Halloween candy on my way to Friday night dinner, I saw it. And I bought one." By now Lorelai's voice had gotten a little higher in pitch. She was starting to cry. She lifted a hand to wipe away a tear.

Luke crossed the bathroom slowly and rested a hand on each of her arms, caressing with his thumbs.

"So, then I was gonna leave, but I knew I wouldn't be pregnant, so I bought some tampons too. Then, I was int eh car with April and I was just weird because I knew I had the test to take, but I also didn't really believe I'd be pregnant. So, the mix of my emotions that said, 'Maybe your pregnant!' and the ones that said, 'No, don't be stupid, you won't be pregnant. You'll never get pregnant! Ha-ha!' made me kind of a bitch to April. I could tell she was upset and that made me feel worse. Then I came home and took the test and that made me feel horrible." At this point Lorelai was crying even harder. Luke held her close in both arms and still looked her in the eyes as she continued. "I was gonna watch TV to try to take my mind off of all this, but when I turned it on, it was a diaper commercial, so it made me think about how I'll never have to buy diapers again and how it was just mocking me. So, I changed the channel, but on the next channel it was an Always commercial, and their slogan is, "Have a happy period." So then I thought about how no period will ever be happy -- not that it every really was before -- because it will just keep screaming at me, 'No baby!' So then I just kept thinking, 'I'm never gonna have a baby,' until I called you. None of this ever made me feel any better by the way -- worse and worse all the time. So then you got home and I just kept being a bitch to you, knowing all the time how crazy it was because you did nothing wrong. And I just kept getting more and more upset."

Now Lorelai was in hysterics, but Luke felt he had no power to stop it. He said, "Oh, Lorelai," and let her go until she finished with, "And now I'm realizing that all of my craziness, bitchiness, and being upset is probably just PMS and that's making me even angrier."

She sobbed into Luke's shirt, towel barely attached anymore, arms holding him tightly, eyes red, and hair sopping wet still.

Luke finally said, "Okay, okay. Hold on. Let's take a breath here." He reached for her bathrobe and wrapped it around her naked and shivering form. He lead her to the bedroom, placed a blanket over her shoulders, and held her close as they sat on the bed.

Luke said, "Okay, now take a deep breath. Try to relax." Lorelai sat hiccupping for a few minutes, trying to compose herself. "Okay, now, first," Luke said, "I love you."

"I love you too," Lorelai said between quick breaths.

"Now," Luke began, "it's okay that you're not pregnant yet. I'm not going anywhere." He smiled, trying to encourage her.

"I know, but I want to be," she said. Her words were still broken up by attempts to calm down.

"I know, and I want you to be. But, I don't want you to get upset like this every month if it doesn't happen."

"I don't want that either."

"Especially not right away. This is only the third time it hasn't happened."

"I know, but that's three times too many."

" I know, I feel the same way."

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Luke continued, "So? What should we do?"

"I don't know," Lorelai said.

"Well, do you want to get some advice, like see a doctor?"

Lorelai didn't answer right away, but then said, "Do you think it's too soon for that?"

"I don't know. I seems like we should do something besides get frustrated like this. So, I don't know. Should we try one more month on our own and then we'll make an appointment if nothing happens?"

"Yeah, that sounds fine," she agreed.

"Okay, good. So? Are we good?"

"We're great as long as you'll forgive me for acting so awfully."

"Totally justified," Luke said with a smile.

"Thanks."

* * *

_So, this is in no way, shape, or form anywhere near where I intended to cut this chapter, but it was originally too short. So, the next one will pick up right here because what it came down to is that I'm sick and tired of typing because I've been typing since I woke up this morning._


	14. Family Confessions

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from Gilmore Girls are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

_So, I can't deny that a huge part of this chapter, I'm sure you'll figure out which part as you read, comes off slightly on the corny side and will either be hit or miss. I hope it's hit. Let me know. :)

* * *

__Previously:_

_"We're great as long as you'll forgive me for acting so awfully."_

_"Totally justified," Luke said with a smile._

_"Thanks."_

"Sure," Luke smiled.

"Now," Lorelai started seriously, "I want to talk to April, but I don't want to wake her, and I have to go to work."

"How about if I send her to the inn some time today -- after she has breakfast?" Luke suggested.

"Sure," Lorelai said. She kissed Luke quickly and walked into the closet to pick out something to wear. "Try to have her there by 11:00."

"Why?"

"There are some guests that I think she might enjoy. They're having a meeting around 11:00."

"Who are they?" Luke inquired as he watched her look through her hanging clothes, his hands on his hips.

"Archaeologists. They're just passing though, but they're taking over the dining room for a while today. I don't know, but it might be interesting, or at least to April. I figured she could eaves drop if she wanted."

"She'd like that," Luke agreed with a smile.

"So, have her come by, but don't tell her about it. I want it to be a surprise after I apologize."

"Okay," Luke agreed.

Lorelai held a dress on a hanger in each hand. "Which one?" She asked Luke.

"Why are you asking me?" He scoffed.

"Because I don't care what anyone else thinks about how I look. You're the one I'm sleeping with."

"Great," Luke said, rolling his eyes. "Now I'm gonna worry if you stop asking me."

She rolled her eyes back at him before insisting, "Pick one."

"That one." Luke said, pointing to a dark green dress with a deep-V neckline. His other choice had been a black shirt dress, buttons all the way down with a belt at the waist.

"You always choose the plunging neckline," Lorelai said with a smile, putting the other one back.

"That's intentional, you know," Luke said with a wink.

"I _know_," Lorelai said, "but _you_ aren't the one seeing it all day. I'm at the inn, where other people look at me. When I get home and actually see you, I've changed into pjs."

"Some of those have more than plunging necklines."

"This is true."

"But what you're saying is you want me to take you out tonight so I can look at you in that dress?" Luke suggested, pulling her close by wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Is this you way of asking me out on a date, Luke Danes?"

"You caught me." Luke laughed.

"Sounds great to me," Lorelai agreed, giving him a kiss, "any ideas?"

"You decide where," Luke suggested.

"Hmm," she pondered, escaping his arms after a kiss to walk towards her dresser.

"Well," she said, pulling on underwear under her robe, "Have Maisy and Buddy met April yet?"

"I've told them about her, but I haven't brought her in yet," Luke replied.

"Great let's do that. I mean, if you want to."

"Sure," Luke agreed.

"Cool, we haven't been there in forever."

Luke zipped up the back of Lorelai's dress for her as he asked, "But I mean, this was just going to be a you and me date. Are you sure you're okay with bringing April."

"Yeah, I don't mind. I don't want to just leave her at home."

"Okay, if you're sure." He was still skeptical.

"Luke, I'm sure. This is what I wanted, to be in your life with your daughter. As long as you get to see me in the dress, it all works out." She smiled.

"Good," Luke said.

"Yup," Lorelai agreed. She took a red and green necklace from her jewelry box and followed Luke into the bathroom to dry her hair while Luke showered.

* * *

"Hey, Michel. Is Lorelai around?" 

"No."

"Oh, well, she said she would be. Do you know where she is?"

"No."

"Okay. Well, then I'm sort of at a loss because my dad told me to come over here."

Silence came from Michel who stood behind the Dragonfly's front desk. April stood on the opposite side as she made her inquiries. Michel's eyes were fixed on the computer screen."

"He told me that she wanted me to come."

Silence still.

"Did she come in at all today?"

"No."

"Are you sure you haven't seen Lorelai?"

"No."

"Tall, brown hair, blue eyes...?"

"No."

"No, you don't agree that's how she looks? No, she's not here? No, you aren't sure? Or, no, that's what you're gonna answer to any question I ask?"

Silence.

"So, then you won't mind if I go into her office to see if she's there?"

"No."

"Okay, great. Thanks."

Silence.

April started to walk towards Lorelai's office door, but curiosity got the best of her. "Michel, are you okay?"

"No."

"What are you doing?"

Silence.

"Right. That's not a yes or no question. Sorry."

She turned back to the office door and was planning to leave Michel along, but then he said quickly and with slight anger and much annoyance, "I'm redesigning the Inn's website."

"Oh," April smiled slightly. Keeping her cool and knowing exactly what to say, she responded, "It looks good. Masculine."

She ten turned towards Lorelai's office again, knocking.

Michel's expression softened. He wasn't happy, but if his face froze that way, he might still find a woman on day.

"Yeah?" Lorelai called from within the office.

"It's just me," April said shyly as she opened the door slowly.

"Oh, come on in. Sit down; I'll be just a second." Lorelai kept her eyes locked on the computer screen before her. A spread sheet could be seen there.

A moment later, Lorelai looked to April with a bright smile.

"Hi," she said, not really knowing hot to start.

"Listen, Lorelai," April said, "You don't have to --"

"Yes," Lorelai interrupted her, "I do." She looked at April sternly. "We're still new, you and me. We haven't seen all the sides of each other. Around you, I've been trying really hard to be the calm, cool, and collected Lorelai that people like. But, that's not always, unfortunately, who I am. I wish it was, but I think everyone wears a mask sometimes... Anyway, the point is, last night, I was upset. I was trying to hide it because I want you to like me, more than anything. And I always try to seem as put together as possible. I guess that's try with me and everyone. And, when I just have too much to handle, I get angry and annoyed and it comes out at whoever is around. Your Dad is the only one who breaks me of it because, no matter how hard I try, I can't keep it all in from him. Even Rory, I usually keep it all in from her too. She knows when something's wrong, but I never really let her see what I hold back because she shouldn't have to...Anyway, I'm sorry. Last night, I was stressed, tired, upset... and I just had a lot on my mind. So, like I said you were just there. In the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Okay," April nodded. "But? In the future, when you're upset, it's okay to just tell me you're having a bad day. You don't have to be wonder-woman." April got up from the chair in Lorelai's office to walk behind her desk. "I'm going to love you no matte what," April admitted this softly, unsure if it was appropriate.

Lorelai's eyes grew wide at this. She looked at April for a moment before she stood and pulled her into a hug.

"Thank you," she whispered.

April sat back down in the chair in front of Lorelai's desk after a minute. She asked, "Are you better this morning? You seem better."

"Yes, I'm good. Luke, as always, got me to talk to him, and now I'm fine. Or, not fine, but dealing with things. He eased the stress."

"Good."

"Your father really is quite the guy, you know?" Lorelai said this with a small embarrassed smile.

"I'm learning that. I only wish I knew him as well as you do," April looked down at her shoes. It was Lorelai's turn to console April. Kneeling before her, she put one hand on April's knee and took one of April's with her other.

"Oh, April. You'll know him. Believe me, you'll know him so well in time. You're so much like him. You have no idea."

"Really?" April asked.

"Yeah," Lorelai assured her. "That's probably why I tell you absolutely everything that's going on with me and him without meaning to do it." She rolled her eyes remembering their many conversations. "Your facial expressions, your way of allowing me to just be calm around you. These things draw me in to you both without me even realizing it."

April smiled, and Lorelai knew she should continue.

"You both have this way of being self conscious that makes me adore you even more than I already do. You both have no idea that it's because you're different that you're so special. You always seem to think that people look at you once and then have to glance back again at you, just to be sure that's what they're really seeing. But, what neither of you do realize is that while some people take the second glance and keep on walking, other people, the people who count, are looking back because they just can't get enough.

"To people who don't know you both like I do, you're father and daughter who don't have any similar interests, but to me you're father and daughter too much alike to ever notice it yourselves."

April's eyes were tear-filled. "Thank you," she whispered.

They both collected themselves for a moment and then Lorelai said, "Hey, I've got a surprise for you. There are some guests assembling in the dining room for a meeting in a few minutes. They're archaeologists."

"Cool," April said.

"Yeah, so? You want to listen in?"

"Oh my gosh. Yes!"

"Okay, go ahead out whenever you want."

"Great! Thanks," April said.

Once she reached the door, she turned back to Lorelai, "You know? I still would have accepted your apology about last night even if you had just said it was PMS."

"Oh," Lorelai looked at her, trying not to look disappointed.

"But, Lorelai?" April started again. "This was much better." April smiled warmly at Lorelai, expressing how grateful she was for the talk.

"I agree," Lorelai said simply, smiling back from the seat at her desk.

"I'm sure that was part of it," Lorelai mumbled under hear breath as she shook her head and returned her eyes to the computer screen after April shut the office door.

* * *

Lorelai, April, and Luke entered Sniffy's Tavern at 7:00 that night. Going straight to the table, as always, Luke said, "I'm sure Maisy and Buddy will be over any second." 

"So get ready for hugs," Lorelai cut in.

"Yeah," Luke said, "they'll love you, April."

She smiled and they all waited.

Soon enough, Maisy came barreling over, knocking down a few waiters carrying trays on the path. Buddy, who followed told the waiters to apologize to the customers for the wait, make them new meals, and tell them dessert's on the house for the inconvenience. He then caught up with his wife to hear her greeting, "April! Is that you? Well, Lucas, I thought this day would never come. Why did it take you so long to bring her here?" Her angry eyes towards Luke quickly changed back to excited ones as she pulled April up and into a hug.

"It's so good to meet you. Your father has told me all about you. My, you certainly are a pretty one, aren't you? Oh! I'm Maisy, by the way. This is Buddy."

"It's so nice to meet you both," April said with a smile, reaching out to shake Buddy's hand.

"It's nice to meet you too, April," he said.

"And, Lorelai," Buddy continued, "lovely as always."

"Thank you," she told him.

April returned to sit as Maisy said, "Did I hear right? Are you two married and Luke didn't tell me?" She hit him on the arm.

"Yes," Lorelai said with a wide smile. "We eloped a few months ago." She held out her left hand.

"Well, at least the boy has good taste in jewelry."

"I'm sorry I hadn't told you, Maisy," Luke said. "We've had a lot going on." He smiled at Lorelai.

"Yeah," Lorelai assured her, "butt if I had known Luke didn't tell you, we'd have been here sooner."

"Buddy nodded in response to this and smiled. "Maisy smiled too and said, "Thank you, Lorelai."

"Sure," she said.

Maisy and Buddy brought desert later and chatted with them as they ate. Luke knew since the moment Maisy found out they were married that he and Lorelai wouldn't escape her without answering the question.

"So?" Maisy asked hopefully, "any little ones on the horizon for you two?"

"Oh, now, Maisy," Buddy started, "that's their business."

"Oh, hush," she told him and turned to look between Luke and Lorelai.

"Well, we're hoping," Lorelai admitted with a smile after Luke took her hand in his beneath the table and squeezed it lightly.

"Oh, my little man's gonna be a daddy." Then Maisy looked at April and smiled, catching her mistake, "again!"

They all laughed, but Luke who rolled his eyes. "Not yet."

"And you had better tell me when you are."

"We will," Luke assured her as she finally pulled him into a hug as she sat beside him.

"We promise," Lorelai added with a smile.

"We're so happy for you, Hun," Buddy said smiling at Lorelai over the table. He put his hand on hers, reaching across the table. He simply smiled at Luke, knowing that was enough. He knew Luke knew how happy he was for him, but also Buddy knew neither of them was good with the verbalization.

When William died, the extent of Luke and Buddy's conversation about it consisted of, "He was a great man," from Buddy and a pat on the shoulder and, "That, he was" returned by Luke.

Nope, they were men who let their actions speak. Buddy never had long conversations with Luke, although Maisy want him to- believing it would help, but he did help him -- any way he could. Luke was grateful for that, and they both knew it. That's all that mattered.

* * *

It was 9:00 by the time they got home. They were just in time for a special about elephants on Animal Planet, April told them upon entering the house. She convinced Luke and Lorelai to watch it only because they felt bad protesting, and didn't. Instead, the held their tongues the entire time. Silent moaning only. 

When the show ended at 10:00, the older viewers were more than relieved. They couldn't be convinced to watch the next show on killer bees and escaped upstairs once April went to Rory's room to watch it.

* * *

_Not exactly sure why I included this little ending segment about Animal Planet, but it works out because the next chapter picks up here and I'm pretty sure is all Luke and Lorelai conversation. So, it made sense to include this little bit of April at the end of this April-filled chapter._


	15. Family Reminiscences

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from Gilmore Girls are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

_So, just a warning, Luke might be slightly OOC in this chapter only because he talks quite a bit, but my reasoning is that he must talk to Lorelai when they're alone. How could he not?_

* * *

"Why do you have a kid who watches Animal Planet?" Lorelai asked Luke once they shut the bedroom doors. 

"Oh, come on. It wasn't that bad."

"No, Luke. It was that bad. I thought I was done with watching the shows that smart people like. When Rory left, I watched cartoon network for months. I hated it all those years when she watched C-SPAN, and just when I was finally getting over the trauma, you bring home the Queen of the Jungle. Now, it's not C-SPAN 24-7, it's Animal Planet."

"Well, it's a change of pace," Luke said optimistically.

"Are you telling me you enjoy these shows?" Lorelai asked.

"No," Luke scoffed. "But April likes them , and she doesn't watch them all the time. I can make sacrifices."

"You're lucky I love that kid, Luke," Lorelai said in a huff as she made her way into the bathroom.

Luke was unbuttoning his shirt and stopped suddenly once he comprehended what she'd just said. A smile spread over his face as he changed.

Luke followed Lorelai into the bathroom where they brushed their teeth in silence. Luke's smile would not leave his face. He left the bathroom as Lorelai grabbed a hair-tie and put her hair in a bun, getting it off her face before she started taking off her make-up.

A few minutes later, Lorelai dropped her dress into a laundry basket outside the bathroom and made her way towards Luke who was in only boxer-briefs, looking through his drawer for his sweatpants. Luke continued to think about Lorelai's comment as she snuck up behind him and wrapped her arms around his torso, leaning her head against his shoulder from behind.

"You know how much I love you, right?" He said as he pulled out the sweatpants.

"Of course, and if you really do: you won't put those on." She smiled to herself as Luke turned to look at her. Seeing her in only her black bra and panties, he returned the sweatpants to the drawer, took Lorelai by the hand, and led her over to the bed.

They lay there for a while beneath the covers, Lorelai's head on Luke's chest and their arms around each other.

Luke played with Lorelai's hair, once again free from the elastic, and Lorelai's hand roamed Luke's chest and stomach. At some point, though, Lorelai began getting a little bored and her hand traveled lower, beneath the waist band of his underwear. She stroked him lightly, exploring the area as if one, she'd never done s o before, and two he wasn't actually a real person who would notice she was doing it.

"Lorelai," Luke said with slight annoyance.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"You know exactly what. Stop that."

"Why?" She asked.

He reasoned, "Because you're just playing with...it."

"I like it," Lorelai said simply.

At this comment they both wondered if she'd had too much to drink that night.

"It's not a toy, Lorelai," Luke said.

"Toy. Dirty," Lorelai giggled.

"Okay, that's enough," Luke said and he pulled Lorelai's hand away.

"Fine," she said reluctantly. "I guess we'll just go to sleep."

"Night," Luke said.

"Night," Lorelai said, leaning up to kiss him and then returning to their previous position.

Before long, Lorelai brought her hand to rest on top of him, this time outside the briefs.

"Mmmm," Luke let out this annoyed grunt slowly to really make his point.

Lorelai said, "What?" simply.

"Oh, come on," Luke said.

"Sorry," Lorelai said.

"No you're not," Luke shot back.

When she didn't respond or move her hand, Luke said, "Does your hand have to be there?"

"Well," Lorelai said as if the answer was 'yes.'

Luke sighed.

"What? I just like to know it's there, okay?"

Luke almost laughed at this and then just sighed, "she says as if my manhood could just disappear."

Lorelai smiled at this but didn't let Luke see. She said with complete seriousness, "Well, that's a frightening thought for me, Luke, because that would make out reproducing even harder than it already seems to be."

Luke groaned, "It's not just going to up and walk away."

"I like the 'up' part," Lorelai giggled.

"Okay," Luke said, "this is a pointless conversation." He finally picked up her hand and dropped it by her side.

"Hey!" she exclaimed.

"What? It's not like you want anything to happen tonight. You're just trying to bug me."

"Well, how do you know?" she shrugged.

"Well, _do_ you want to do something?" he asked.

"Oh," she said, "now, that's _incredibly_ romantic!"

"You're one to talk," Luke fired back.

"Okay. Are we really bickering about this right now?"

"Well, it wouldn't be us if we weren't, would it?"

"I guess not," Lorelai said. She wrapped her arm around Luke's stomach and hugged him tightly.

Luke rubbed up and down her arm with his index finger as she caressed the area of skin that her hand reached.

"Now, see? That's a much better use of your left hand."

They both lay there for a few minutes trying to gall asleep, but, for some reason, neither were.

"Luke?" Lorelai asked a while later to see if he was still awake.

"Yeah?" he answered with a smile.

"Will you tell me about your parents?" she whispered, out of the blue, subconsciously reasoning that maybe if she asked quietly enough, Luke might not get mad.

"My parents?" Luke asked.

"Yeah," Lorelai said. "You've never really talked about them before, and I don't know much about them. I think, as your wife, I should know about the people who created you, my wonderful, perfect man. That is," she continued after a pause, "if you want to tell me."

Luke gave her a reassuring squeeze, but then asked, "Why now? All of a sudden?"

"Well, I've thought about it before, but I don't know. Tonight, with Maisy and Buddy. It just came to mind and I was curious. Don't worry about it, Luke. You don't have to talk about it."

Luke didn't say much for a while, and Lorelai assumed this meant he didn't want to talk. Then, he began, "My mom...was so..." he paused, deep in thought. Soon he admitted, "perfect."

Lorelai smiled softly at this declaration, wishing she thought of her own mother this way.

"She was like Rory," Luke continued.

Lorelai's smile held. She stroked his stomach subconsciously but lovingly as he continued.

"She was intelligent, but modest. She rarely let on how smart she was, thought. It's like, she hid it, not wanting to take attention off me and Liz, or even our dad. She just...focused on others. But, she was kind and caring and emotional, like Rory."

By now, Luke was lost in memories. "If there's one thing I remember about her, it's that she was the all-American mother. She was everything cliché. She could have done anything, but she just wanted to stay home, be with her kids, take care of the house, and support her husband. She cooked all the time. Our hose was never without fresh cookies, or cakes, or pies."

"Did she teach you to cook?" Lorelai asked with a smile.

"Well, I was young, so not exactly. It was more like, I watched with fascination and then stirred things."

Lorelai laughed warmly, "Wow, that's nice."

"Yeah, and she always said one day she'd convince Liz to help too. She started writing down recipes once she'd perfected them. They were all in a book that she said she'd originally planned to make for Liz and her family on day. Then, she realized one day, that I'd be the chef, no Liz. So, she said that the book would be our secret but that she'd make sure I got it. I wasn't all complete when I did get it, but there are like 25 recipes. I still have the book but I have the recipes memorized at this point, so I don't look at it much anymore. I did actually, once, try to teach Liz how to cook some of the things after we'd spent a weekend looking at old pictures of mom. I was like 16 and she was 14. We were both very nostalgic, but eventually Liz just lost interest." Luke admitted this sadly.

Lorelai acknowledged this with a frown and kissed his stomach.

Luke continued reminiscing. "And, she always made sure all four of us ate dinner together. At dinner, we'd all have to tell a story about our day, but that rule was never actually enforced because we all willingly told like ten stories. Dinner used to last hours, just because we'd all be talking, sitting their at the table with empty plates long after we'd finished eating."

"Dinner's at my house lasted hours, but never because we wanted them to. It was proper to have any courses. That really dragged it out," Lorelai inserted this tidbit partly as her own reflection and partly because she wanted to make sure look knew that his life is just as special to her as it is to him.

"Yeah, my mom was never about being proper. Polite, yes. Proper, no. I mean she constantly reminded us to say 'please' and 'thank you,' and sometimes, 'no burping at the table,' but never much more."

Lorelai let out a laugh at this.

"So, what did she look like?"

"Blonde. Short, curly hair. Well, when I say short, it wasn't that short. Rory's hair her freshmen year at Yale."

"Got it," Lorelai smiled, not believing that Luke remembered Rory's haircuts and when she had them.

"She wasn't tall, but not short either. Maybe 5'6"."

Lorelai nodded.

"Yeah," Luke mused. "She really held the family together. Things kind of started to go down hill after..."

"When did she die?" Lorelai asked.

"I was 12, and it was right before Valentine's Day."

"What happened?"

"Ice happened. She was driving home from Hartford. She'd gone to talk to someone about a sign for the Hardware Store. We just had a cloth one that hung in the window. It was going to be my father's Valentine's Day present. Romantic, huh?" Luke joked.

"It's nice," Lorelai assured him. "Very thoughtful."

"Yeah, well. She slide off the road and the car hit a tree. They said she died on impact."

"Oh, wow," Lorelai said softly.

"Yeah, well my Dad still got the sign."

"Oh, is it the one that's still up there?"

"Yeah," Luke said softly.

"Well, that explains why you love that sign so much. It's so great that you have that, Luke, really."

"Yeah, well." He paused for a moment then said, "At first my Dad didn't want the sign because he said it wouldn't be fair that he got his last Valentine's Day present, but my mom never go hers. It was a diamond bracelet. He didn't buy her much jewelry, but it would have been their 20th Valentine's Day together. Instead, we burred her on Valentine's Day. The wake was closed casket because of the damage from the accident, but my father insisted that they put that bracelet on her. They did, and I think that's the only reason he put that sign up."

"Wow, Luke. That _is_ romantic."

They were both quiet for a while.

"So?" Lorelai said a minute later. "Tell me more about your Dad? Luke...what do you remember most about him?"

"Well," Luke thought for a moment, but it didn't take him long to come up with, "My father showed almost no emotion."

"Well, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?"

"I mean, if he had a strong opinion about something, you knew it, but, you know, 'feelings'-wise, you never heard him say a thing."

"I rest my case," she smiled.

"He was like that even before my mom died, so you can imagine how it was when she did. He'd always listen if we needed to talk -- me and Liz -- but he never let us know if he was upset or angry. Not that Liz and I said much anyway. Liz threw herself into -- whatever, and I knew my father didn't really want to hear it. It would only make him feel worse. But, I always knew how he felt, even though he'd never say it. I could see it when he hurt. I mean, what can a kid really do for his parent?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Lorelai spoke from experience. "I bet you did more for him than you know. Just being there? You didn't run from him, and I bet he noticed _that_, Luke. You were there, and sometimes that's enough."

"Yeah, but sometimes I just wished he'd had someone to lean on, you know?"

"Yeah, I do, Luke. I know just what you mean because I always had you to lean on." Luke just smiled and rubbed her arm lightly.

"Yeah, when I saw you always being strong for your kid, I couldn't help but want to give you someone who could be strong for you. And, you know, you were so pretty, and I was right there. So, it just made sense," Luke joked.

Lorelai smiled, "okay, so back to your Dad."

"Yeah, well, there's really not much to tell because my sister has made it clear to me once or twice that in outward appearance, I am him. Ignoring town events but always seeming to get sucked in."

"Because you can't resist helping anyone who needs it," Lorelai said.

"Oh, that's one thing about him, actually." Luke smiled, remembering.

"What?"

"He loved to be the hero."

"How do you mean?"

"I mean like there's a cat stuck in a tree and he gets a ladder and rescues it, then boom. He's townsman of the month."

"Did that really happen?"

"Yes, he did that at least once a year until he was 50."

After a pause Luke admitted, "Then, he made me do it."

"Wow, that's quite the tradition. I can just picture you running with the ladder under your arm."

"Lorelai, I hate to shatter your image, but I really couldn't _run_ with a ladder that big. Think about it, that cat's in a tree, that's one long heavy ladder."

"I'm surprised you can even walk with a ladder as long and heavy as yours," Lorelai mocked.

"Oh come on," Luke replied to her inability to keep any comment clean.

"But really, though" Lorelai said after a minute. "This sure is a story-book town we live in isn't it?"

"Yeah, right out of The Book I'll Never Read to Our Kid."

"Oh, no," Lorelai feigned shock. "You'll expose it to him or her first hand instead." She said this sarcastically.

"You want to move?" He threw out, "'cause we could move."

"I don't wanna move," she said casually, knowing he didn't mean it as a legitimate suggestions, "and neither do you. You just want to keep going in your diner and living the craziness that keeps your life from being monotonous.

"You are the craziness that keeps my life from being monotonous," Luke cut in, but Lorelai just continued as if he hadn't even spoken.

"Probably just like your father. Am I right?"

"Yeah," he admitted, "he just sat in his store and watched as other people lived exciting, happy lives. He knew his life was good, and he loved his family. He was proud of his family, but he was never as happy as he was with my mom. And thank God that's one way we're different."

He squeezed Lorelai gently. "I used to be that way; I fell right into his rut when he left it to me, but then a brunette with blue eyes walked into my rut and begged me for coffee."

Lorelai smiled.

"And now I'm happy. Not just satisfied, but happy. Really happy."

"Me too, honey. And I have a feeling that's what's important about your Dad's story. He gave you what he could after your mom died, but really, his happiness died with her I think. And I think he knew he already showed you how to be happy, so it was okay that he wasn't the same anymore."

"Yeah," Luke thought for a moment and then realized, "but we were close after she died, closer than we were when he was the real him. He was always different around me than everyone else. Closer to the real him."

"I bet that's because you were what he had left to make him happy."

"I hope you're right about that one."

She rubbed his stomach softly as if to say, "I am, don't worry."

"So, to close," she said a moment later...

Luke read her mind and continued, "He died in '91 of cancer. He was 55 and he'd been sick for a few years. It was the worst day of my life."

Lorelai nodded and hugged him close, not saying "I'm sorry because it didn't seem like enough, and she knew he knew. She just said, "I wish I'd ventured off the inn's property and explored the town more then so that I could have known him."

"He would have loved you."

"The feeling is mutual."

Luke assumed the quiet meant they'd decided it was time to sleep, but then Lorelai spoke cheerily. "Luke! Let's go on a picnic tomorrow."

"Why do you have so much energy?" He groaned.

"Come on, it'll be fun."

"I don't understand, it _is_ practically tomorrow it's so late and you just can't seem to sleep."

"We'll go off by the lake, 'cause nobody else will be there and we can just have lunch," she suggested.

"It's the coffee, you know. This is what it does to you."

"April could come if she wants."

"You're tired, so you drink some coffee. But then it gets you going so much that you can't sleep at night."

"Although, I also wouldn't mind if it was just you and me either."

"So, then you're up all night."

"Do you want to cook?"

"So then you get no sleep."

"Or, I could ask Sookie to cook."

"SO, then you're tired the next day."

"I know we don't want me to cook it."

"So, you just drink coffee. Thus ensuring the cycle."

"Does 1:00 sound good?"

"It's quite a vicious circle."

"No, it's not I'm not wide awake from the coffee, I just got this idea and I was excited about it. But I _am_ tired, so let's go to sleep."

"How about 2:00?"

"I drink coffee right before bed most nights, but you see me, I'm asleep in minutes."

"That way I can get Caesar and Lane over the lunch rush."

"It's actually funny. During the day, coffee wakes me up,"

"And, I'll make the food."

"but at night it puts me right to sleep."

"How does a sandwich sound?"

"2:00's good."

"Yeah, that is funny, and a little irrational."

"Sandwiches are good."

"Can someone really have that kind of control over coffee. I don't think so."

"How 'bout turkey?"

"Although,"

"With lettuce"

"If anyone has that kind of control over coffee,"

"and mustard."

"it would certainly be you."

"So, I'll meet you at the lake?"

"Yeah, the lake at 2:00," Luke agreed.

"I _am_ the Coffee Queen."

"No cheese on the sandwich?"

"Yes, cheese too."

"Okay," Luke smiled.

"Night."

"Night."

"And bring coffee too, please."

* * *

_I had a fun time writing this chapter. I always read a bunch of people's explanations about Luke's past, and I wanted to do one of my own. Also, nothing I've ever read went into why Luke wouldn't take that sign down, it's always just been a general attachment to his father. But really, I had the most fun with the end. I hope you liked it as much as I do._


	16. Better Than a Picnic in the Bathroom

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from _Gilmore Girls_ are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

Hello all you people I think are still reading, sorry it's been a little while longer than usual. / Unfortunately I'm nearing the end of what I've already written. I'm still writing it, but it's just that I seem to be posting faster than I'm writing, so now it's kind of catching up with me. Anyway, all that means is it will take a while longer to update because I don't want to post 500 words at a time because I only tend to write 500 words at a time. So, just a warning. Don't think I've abandoned the story because I haven't even gotten to write the main part yet, so I definitely won't stop before I do that.

* * *

"Hey, Sookie," Lorelai greeted the next morning. 

"Hi, Hun. How's your weekend going?"

"It's been crazy," she said, reaching for the coffee and pouring herself a cup.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Well, it's complicated," Lorelai sighed leaning against the counter as Sookie stirred a big bowl of fluffy orange stuff.

Sookie encouraged Lorelai to continue with her eyes, opening them more and staring at Lorelai as she continued with the orange fluff.

Lorelai _rolled_ her eyes and said, "Well, Friday was just a weird day for me. You know how Luke and I are trying to..." a wave of her hand prompted Sookie to say,

"Yes. Go on."

"Well, unfortunately, we haven't been entirely successful yet, and it's putting us on edge. Me especially."

"It'll happen, Hun. Don't worry. It took me and Jackson some time too, but everything turned out fine. And, it won't help if you're stressed."

"Yeah, I know. And Luke's been really encouraging, which is good."

"Yeah," Sookie agreed.

"So, anyway," Lorelai continued, "On Friday I felt like I was being haunted."

"By ghosts?"

"No, by commercials..."

Sookie nodded, still listening, as if it was the most natural occurrence in the world.

Lorelai continued, "...and songs about pregnancy tests..."

"There are songs about pregnancy tests?" Sookie asked, surprised.

"...and perfect families, and diapers, and 'happy periods'." Lorelai used air quotes as she mocked.

"Ah, I hate those Always commercials. Who the hell's ever had a happy period?"

"No kidding. Well, except for maybe Alice or Margaret... But when that came on I kept thinking, I'll never have a happy period because it'll always be there to tell me I'm not pregnant."

"Oh, Hun. When has it ever been happy before?"

Lorelai just shrugged.

"So, then I stupidly went and bought one of those First Response tests that were haunting me. And, at the same time I bought tampons for when reality came back into play."

"Get any strange looks for that combination?"

"Okay, so, I'm not crazy. I thought the girl behind the counter gave me a look, but apparently I was imagining it."

"So, did you take it?"

"Yeah, but before I did, I was in the car with April and I was anxious and I guess I was a little harsh with her. I dropped her off a the diner and I guess she was kind of upset because when Luke came home later he brought it up in our fight."

"Why did you guys fight?" Sookie asked sadly.

"I was upset that the test came up negative," Sookie frowned at this. "But I hadn't told Luke, so he was upset 'cause I was being a bitch and because I upset April, So, anyway,"

"Wait, did he call you a bitch?"

"No that was just me recognizing it."

"Oh, okay good, because if he had, believe me, I would have marched right over there and kicked him in a place that would assure that you wouldn't be having any babies."

"Well, he didn't, so hold off for now."

"Okay, continue."

"Right, so eventually it was fine. We fixed stuff after I had a mini-breakdown yesterday morning."

"Funny what a breakdown can do for a girl."

"Yeah. I know, but I also know it freaks the guys out a little."

"Yeah," Sookie laughed. "So, how 'bout April?"

"Oh, we had a heart to heart, she ease-dropped on some archaeologists, and now we're peachy."

"Good."

"Yeah, so to complete the re-cap."

"Yes, please continue."

"Okay, so we went to Sniffy's last night."

"You and Luke?"

"And April, she hadn't met Maisy and Buddy. So, that was a good time. Then we came home," Lorelai rolled her eyes with a sigh and she said, "watched Animal Planet, and then Luke and I went to bed. And we talked about his parents."

"Awww," Sookie said.

"Yeah, it was nice. I never really knew much about them before, but Luke really loves them. So, it was nice to hear him speak so emotionally about them."

"Cute," Sookie said.

Lorelai smiled, "So, today we decided to have a picnic by the lake."

"Cuter."

"So, I'll be leaving at about 2:00 today."

"Sure, no problem. Are you gonna take him to that spot you and Rory used to go?"

"Oh my God, I forgot about that place."

"Yeah, you guys used to rave about it."

"Lorelai nodded slowly. "Hmm, maybe I will."

"Can I make anything for you two?"

"Nah, Luke's bringing the food, so I think we'll be good. Thanks, though."

"Sure. Have a nice time."

"Oh, I intend to," Lorelai said with a wink.

"Sookie smiled shyly and added as Lorelai disappeared through the kitchen door, "Now you kids behave yourselves."

* * *

"Hey," Lorelai greeted as she sat on the bridge, her legs dangling over the water. 

As Luke approached, he answered, "Hey. This where we're eating?"

"Um, no," Lorelai said with a smile and a hind of mystery as she looked up at him. "I have someplace to show you."

"Okay, where?" Luke asked.

"Come on, follow me." She took the blanket he carried in his left hand as she began to lead her way into the woods a ways. He followed her, carrying the picnic basket in his right hand.

"Where are we going?" Luke asked impatiently a couple minutes later.

"We're almost there," she answered.

"That's not what I asked, though," Luke pointed out.

"Okay, this is it," Lorelai said, a moment later as she plowed through a section of grass as tall as her to reveal a small circular clearing of shorter grass. It was surrounded by the taller grass and hidden from anything beyond the wall. Lorelai began spreading out the blanket.

"We're eating here?"

"Yeah," Lorelai said.

"Okay," Luke said as if the location meant nothing to him, except that he could finally sit and eat. He set the basket down and sat down on the blanket.

Lorelai stood nearby with her hand on her hips, looking down at Luke.

"What?" he asked.

"Oh, come on."

"What?" he repeated.

"Luke," she scolded.

"Do I have to ask again, or are you gonna tell me what you're thinking?"

"You don't think this place is kind of cool?"

"Yeah, it's neat." Luke said this with little emotion. He returned his attention to unpacking the basket.

"Is something wrong?" Lorelai asked.

"No," Luke assured her. "Why?"

"Well, this place is cool, Luke. Rory and I found it when she was like 8. And, we used to come and eat here on Sundays at lunch, and it was just time we had completely alone. Completely secluded. And we'd have fun and talk, and just be together. And, I decided to share it with you, and you have absolutely no emotion."

Luke just looked at her, unsure of what to say.

"Well?" She said.

"Um," Luke delayed.

Lorelai rolled her eyes and sat down next to Luke in a huff.

"Jeez, I'm sorry, but you know me, Lorelai. I don't get riled up by a cozy spot in the woods. It's neat, sure. It's quite, sure. But, that's yours and Rory's thing -- getting real excited about simple things like this. I like it and all, and I'm happy that you wanted to share it with me, but you know me, I'm just happy to spend time with you. I don't care where. We don't need a _special spot_. I'd be just as happy having a picnic with you in our bathroom."

Lorelai laughed at this, and Luke smiled.

"I will say though, you know what this place reminds me of?"

"1984?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Please, that alone was why Roy liked it."

"Didn't you say she was 8?"

"Yeah?"

"And she'd already read 1984?"

"Please, she's Rory."

Luke shrugged.

"You know?" Lorelai said leaning in to capture Luke's lips, cupping his cheek with her palm.

"What?" Luke asked this between hating kisses.

"I know how we can make this even more like 1984."

"By rhyming?" Luke joked.

"She silenced his chuckles when she reached for his tongue with hers.

"Fine. How?" he asked a minute later.

"Like this," Lorelai said. She sat up on her knees, only to move one over Luke's legs to straddle him as he sat on the blanket. His hands rubbed up and down her thighs to her butt while they continued kissing into a horizontal position.

"But," Luke said a moment later.

"Hmm?" Lorelai wondered how he could possibly be arguing.

"It's cold," he said.

"Suck it up."

* * *

"I'm freezing," Lorelai said, reaching for her sweater ten minutes later. 

"See, I wasn't making it up," Luke smirked, buttoning his jeans and pulling his green jacket back over his flannel. "Sex outside, in late October, is not the best idea."

Lorelai got her jacket while declaring, "I think it was worth it."

"It was completely worth it," Luke said, giving her a quick peck as they sat back down on the blanket.

"Are you hungry?" Lorelai asked.

"Starving."

"Yeah, sex does that, doesn't it?"

"It seems to."

Luke handed her a sandwich. She took a bite, "Me too," she declared her hunger with a mouthful.

"Charming," Luke said, taking the cover off a thermos and smelling its contents to see which of theirs it was.

"I try," Lorelai said.

"Tea," Luke declared putting the first thermos down beside him.

"Ew," Lorelai said.

Reaching for the next one, Luke said, "Coffee," and handing it to Lorelai.

"Yum," she smiled.

* * *

A while later, they were horizontal again, Luke on his back with one arm around Lorelai, and Lorelai with her head on Luke's chest, one arm hugging his stomach. They were staring up at the foliage that was left on the trees. 

"This is nice," Luke declared.

"Nicer than a picnic in our bathroom?" Her sarcasm was evident.

"Fine. Yes..." Luke sighed. "Although, there's a lot we could do in our bathroom that we can't do here."

"Like what?" Lorelai laughed. "_Go_ to the bathroom?"

Luke's eyes rolled.

"Come on, Luke," Lorelai joked, "there's not much that we haven't done here."

"Yeah, but in the bathroom there's water," Luke pointed out.

"Would you like me to pray for rain?" Lorelai asked.

"What makes you so sure you'd get it?"

"Well," Lorelai said, the mood changing as she spoke seriously and began rubbing slow circles on Luke's stomach beneath his jacket, "judging by the fact that all the things I've wanted out of this quiet time with you have come together to make this a perfect day, I'm thinking God won't deny _your_ wishes to make it perfect for you."

"I see," Luke said.

There was comfortable silence that overtook them for a while. Eventually, Lorelai inquired, "What was April up to today?"

"I think se was going to take advantage of all your Seinfeld DVDs."

"Marathon?"

"Yeah, she went to Doose's this morning to stock up on junk. As if there's not already enough of that at the house."

"Yes, but that's my junk. Good junk to one person could be actually junk to another. So, how long's it going on?"

"I'd say all day."

"Cool, maybe I'll join her once we get home. Do you have to go back to the diner?"

"Yeah, I'm closing."

"Oh, okay."

"You don't have to go back to the inn?"

"I don't have to be me 'til Monday," Lorelai said.

"I think you've been hanging around April too much."

"No kidding, I was watching Seinfeld the other day and when Elaine said, "The dingo ate my baby!" ten facts about dingoes came to mind. Guess where I got those from?"

"Animal Planet."

"You got it, Dude!"

Silence fell again.

"Lorelai?"

"Hmm?"

"Lorelai, wake up."

"Hmm?"

"Lorelai, we fell asleep."

"Oh."

"It's kind of dark."

"What time is it?"

Luke checked his watch, "5:30."

"Oh."

"It's getting late. We should probably get back."

"Hey, Grandpa?" Lorelai said, making no move to get up. "Do you hear yourself?"

"I know, but it's fall. It gets dark earlier, and it'll be cold. Plus, April's at home, and I should get back to the diner."

"Oh yeah."

"Yeah...so come on. Up. Up." Luke, already standing, held his hands out to Lorelai and pulled her to stand. They gathered their stuff and headed off.

As they crossed the bridge, Lorelai noticed the small circles forming in the water and the wet marks on her coat

"It's raining," she declared.

"Nothing gets by you," Luke said dryly.

"Why is it raining?" Lorelai asked.

"Because you prayed for rain?" Luke offered.

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"No, I said, _if_ I prayed for rain we'd probably get it."

"Same thing."

"No it's not. Plus, you were the one who wanted the rain."

"I didn't want it to rain."

"Yes you did. You said our picnic wasn't as good as a picnic in our bathroom would be because there was no water."

Luke rolled his eyes, "I don't think that's exactly what I said."

"Well, it's close, and I think it's your fault," Lorelai said, "'cause rain _is_ water."

"I never realized how smart you were," he smirked, proud of his humorous comment.

Soon it started raining arder and Luke grabbed Lorelai's hand, pulling her along as he started running.

"We're running," she yelled through the pounding rain.

"Boy, you're quick today. Really, it's blowing my mind." He shouted back.

"Why are we running?"

"Because it's raining, as your geniusness pointed out earlier, and it's cold-- I believe that was yours also--"

"Yours first," Lorelai pointed out, cutting him off.

"And we're getting wet," he finished.

"Hey, that's a good one too," Lorelai joked as they jogged towards the diner.

Luke smiled, "I learn quick, don't I?"

They burst through the door of the diner, catching the attention of the one couple sitting in the corner and Lane, who stood behind the counter.

"Hey, Guys," she greeted with a smile.

"Hey, Lane," Lorelai said, trying to wipe the rain from her face.

"Jeez," Lane said. "Look at you guys. You're soaked."

"Yeah," Luke said, shivering slightly.

"What happened?" She asked.

"We were on a picnic," Lorelai said.

"Oh, it's not a very good day for that," Lane said.

"Yeah, we discovered that," Luke said.

"Well, it was fine for a while..." Lorelai trailed off.

Luke picked up, "then it started raining."

"And rain is wet, hence the sopping clothes," Lane finished the explanation.

Luke and Lorelai looked at each other knowingly.

"Well," Lane said, "nothing much pressing is happening down here, if you guys want to..." She gestured over her shoulder towards the curtain.

"Yeah," Luke said, "we're gonna go change."

"Okay," Lane said. "See you later."

"Bye," Lorelai offered as she followed Luke upstairs.

"I'm so freezing," Lorelai shivered as they climbed the stairs.

Luke looked back at her sympathetically. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Lorelai asked, teeth chattering.

"Well, I _was_ the one who wanted it to rain," Luke smirked.

Lorelai rolled her eyes, "You are s-so f-full of your...self," Lorelai stuttered because of the cold. She hugged her arms close as Luke fumbled with his keys, trying to unlock his former apartment.

As they got through the door, Luke looked over his shoulder at Lorelai briefly before he turned to face her.

"Hey?"

"What?" She asked.

"You know I love you, right?" he asked.

"Of course," Lorelai said, wrinkling her eyes brows. "Why?"

"I don't know. Just checking. Just...we were bickering all the way back here. I don't know. We do that a lot."

"I know, that's just us, Hun," Lorelai assured him.

"You know I'm just playing when we do that, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, of course." She said, "It's fun."

"Okay, good," he sighed.

"Yeah, Luke?" She paused, "That's one of the major things I like about us?"

"That we bicker?"

"Yeah, that we have fun. It's us."

"I know," he admitted.

"It wouldn't be the same without that. I don't think we'd survive." She joked.

"Me either," he said.

"Good. So? We're good?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page."

"Always," she smiled as he pulled her into a hug.

"Good," he smiled.

A few moments later, Lorelai broke the silence. "Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"Cold."

"Right," he let go of the embrace.

"Take your clothes off."

"Mmm," Lorelai mock-moaned. "You know how much I love it when you're bossy."

"Yeah, yeah..." Luke said.

Lorelai smiled and took off her coat, dropping it on the floor. A puddle formed around it.

Luke found a large sweatshirt left over in his drawer. He pulled it out and threw it on the bed that still sat nearby.

"I think I have a pair of your jeans actually. You left them here a while ago, and I keep forgetting to take them home."

"Hmm, convenient."

He grabbed the jeans from the shelf at the top of the closed and tossed them next to the sweatshirt. Lorelai began shimmying out of the trousers she wore. She noticed that even her panties were wet. She peeled her sweater off as it stuck to her.

"You wouldn't happen to have a pair of my bra and underwear around too, would you?"

"Sorry," he said, "are those soaked too?"

"Just enough so that if I kept them on, I'd stay freezing."

"Hmm," Luke said, trying to come up with an answer.

Lorelai didn't really have to think about it. She unclasped the bra and discarded it. Reaching for the sweatshirt, she pulled it on. She grabbed a towel from the shelf in the bathroom and wrapped up her hair. She looked at Luke, "I can go you and look fine without a bra in this sweatshirt, right? It' s baggy enough?"

"You're asking the wrong person." He smiled.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "I'll take that as a yes."

Next, she took off the light pink panties and dropped them in her pile of wet clothes. She reached for the jeans and pulled them on. "Looks like I'm going commando."

Luke didn't mind the thought of that.

"Oh my God, you wouldn't believe how much warmer I am. You should get changed."

Luke turned to the dresser and pulled out an old t-shirt that Liz had given him once that said New York on it, an old, slightly torn pair of jeans, and a collared shirt that looked much like his flannel ones, except its material was jean.

"I haven't seen that shirt in a while," Lorelai commented.

"Yeah, it's really old. I wore it more before the flannel think kicked in."

"It was sort of a gateway drug for you?"

He smiled at this.

He looked in the drawers for another second. Frustrated, he began undressing, trying to hide the face that he, too, had no underwear to put on. This concept was pretty fruitless, though, given the face that Lorelai stood a few feet from him, watching as he changed. He avoided her eyes as he discarded his soaking boxers and reached for the jeans. Lorelai smiled at him as she patted her hair with the towel she now held in her hand, in hopes of removing some of its wetness.

"Are you trying to hide from me the face that you aren't wearing any underwear either?"

Luke looked up as he zipped and buttoned his jeans. His eyes were like a deer in the headlights, but he (not-so) smoothly replied, "No," and avoided eye contact.

"Oh, good," Lorelai said with a smile, "'cause I'm standing right here." She chuckled.

"You were right, the dry clothes do feel better," Luke said.

Lorelai smirked at his change of subject.

He picked up their wet clothes and threw them in an old laundry basket he found in the closet. He put the basket on the bed as Lorelai realized, "Oh shoot. I don't have my car. It's at the inn." She walked towards a window and pulled the curtain aside. "I could walk home, but it's still pouring."

Luke reached for his keys and held them out to her. "Here, take the truck home. We'll get your jeep tomorrow or something."

"What about you?" She asked.

"I'm gonna be here for a while. There's some stuff I have to take care of. Caesar ordered this week, and not very successfully. I need to get the new list ready so that I can be the first to call in the morning. For some reason, if you call Lenny after 8:00, it takes twice as long for him to get the meat to you."

"Okay," Lorelai said.

Luke continued, "So, I might not get home until around 10:00 tonight, unfortunately. "But it should have stopped raining by then, so I can walk."

Lorelai rolled her eyes, "You're not gonna walk home at 10:00. Call me when you're done, and I'll come pick you up."

"I don't want you to stay up late just to come pick me up."

"Okay, one," Lorelai started, putting her hands on her hips, "10 o'clock is not that late. I don't usually go to sleep at 9:00 like you. And two," with this she stepped closer to him and cupped his cheeks with her hands. "You're a plenty good enough reason to have to go out at 10 o'clock at night."

He smiled slightly, and Lorelai leaned in for a kiss. When she pulled away slightly so their faces were still inches apart, she whispered, "Sorry, but I can't stop thinking about how you're not wearing any underwear." With this she grabbed his crotch with one fo her hands.

Luke visibly flinched as eh scolded, "Lorelai."

She smiled until he reached down and readjusted his pants quickly.

"What?" she asked, eyes his actions suspiciously.

"Nothing," he said, blushing a little, "the denim just kind of hurt."

"Oh, Hun. I'm sorry." It was Lorelai's turn to blush.

Luke just shook his head as if to say, "don't worry about it."

Lorelai stepped closer and said, "You okay?"

"Yeah," Luke whispered.

"Okay," She smiled back and took the keys from Luke's hand. "Hey?" she said as the thought came to her mind, "Do you want me to bring you back a pair of boxers?"

"No," Luke blushed, "I'll be okay."

"I guess I'll head out then."

She grabbed the basket of clothes, throwing the wet towel in, kissed Luke goodbye and led the way down the stairs.

"Bye, Lane," she said once she got into the diner.

"Bye," Lane waved.

"K, Luke, call me when you're done."

"Alright, see you later. Tell April I say hi."

She smiled, opened the door to the diner, and made a mad dash for Luke's green truck across the street.

Luke chuckled as eh watched his wife through the window.

Had he ever seen Lorelai run like that before?

* * *

Hey. I'm actually proud of this one's length. :) Yay. 


	17. Lightning Strikes

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from _Gilmore Girls_ are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

_Okay, so, sorry, obviously. But here's the deal. I'm still writing this story, but it's going painfully slow. I'm kind of stuck on a part where I sort of know what I_ want _to do, but I _really _don't think it's what I should do, so I've just been avoiding the story until I figure out some happy medium. One thing is for sure, I don't think this story will be as long as I originally intended. There is still one thing that I have been dying to write, but it's still not for a while. So, I absolutely won't give up on the story at least until then. And actually, it would be a good ending place. So, the rest after that I might come back to eventually as a sequel, or whatever, but I'd really like to be done with this one and move onto another one I'm writing. Anyway, I'll definitely finish this one because I would consider it a huge failure not to finish it. So, that's why it's taking a while. When you add up not being able to figure out exactly what to write, having very little time to write, and being more interested in another story, not much results. _

_But, this part I knew what I wanted to do..._

* * *

"Hey," Lorelai said as she walked into her living room a few minutes later. 

"Hi, Lorelai," April said, pressing the clicker's pause button and then turning toward Lorelai. "Jeez, what happened?"

"We got rained on," Lorelai sighed, plopping down on the chair by the stairs and resting the basket of wet clothes on her lap.

"Oh, that sucks."

"Well, we'd finished eating. It was just the walk home when we got soaked. We made it as far as the diner, and then your Dad had some clothes upstairs that we put on just because they were dry."

"I knew that sweatshirt looked a little big," April said.

"Yeah," Lorelai scoffed.

"So, where is Dad?"

"Oh, I guess he had a bunch of stuff to do, so he won't be home 'til late. But he said to say hi."

"Oh, okay, well, do you want to watch Seinfeld with me?"

"Um, yeah. How far along are you in this one?" Lorelai asked, pointing to the screen.

"It's like two seconds from the end."

"Perfect. Watch one more. I'll shower, change, throw these in the laundry, and put some chicken nuggets in the oven, and then I'll join you for the next one."

"Sounds good," April said.

"K." She smiled and walked upstairs.

It was Lorelai, after all, so she dropped the basket of wet clothes beside the laundry basket in her and Luke's bedroom and made her way into the bathroom, dropping the clothes she was wearing onto the floor on the way. She jumped around for a few seconds from the cold and waited for the water to heat up.

Ten minutes later, she emerged from the steamy bathroom, wearing her heavy bathrobe. Her hair was held up by a clip. She kicked the clothes over towards the other dirty clothes, and slipped into her slippers that sat beside the bed.

As she walked down the stairs, she asked April, "Are you cold?"

"Uh, a little," April shrugged, though she was wrapped in a blanket on the couch.

"I'm cold," Lorelai declared.

"Yeah, you tend to never warm up after being out in the cold rain for a little while."

"I hate that," Lorelai said, turning up the thermostat.

She put some chicken and fries in the oven and then called into the liveing room, "I'm making hot chocolate. Am I making enough for two?"

"Yes, please," April said.

A few minutes later, Lorelai carried two mugs, overflowing with mini marshmallows into the living room. She handed one to April and then said, "I'm going to go get dressed. Then I'll be ready to watch."

"K," April said, not taking her eyes from the screen.

Lorelai walked upstairs again, drinking her hot chocolate. Before she disappeared, April called out, "Thanks," as she sipped her hot beverage.

* * *

"Okay," Lorelai said, plopping down on the couch wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt her size. 

"Good timing," April said as the credits rolled and she moved to put the next one in that she wanted to see.

"Yes," Lorelai said dramatically as she took a blanket from near-by and wrapped herself in it, "timing has _always_ been my strong suit -- ever since I got pregnant at 16."

April smiled.

"Oh, yes!" Lorelai said, "The Parking Garage. I love this one."

"Me too," April said.

Just as Kramer finally put down the air conditioner, the timer went off and Lorelai went to retrieve their dinner from the kitchen.

Not long after they finished eating, the phone rang.

Lorelai picked it up, "Hello?...Uh, hi. Ready to come home already?" She asked hopefully, looking at the clock and seeing that it was only 7:30.

"No, actually..." Luke trailed off.

"What?" She asked.

"I wanted to see if your offer from earlier still stood?" He said hesitatingly.

"What offer?"

"The one about the boxers," he said quietly.

"Oh," Lorelai's eyes got wide.

"What?" April asked.

"Your dad wants me to--"

Luke cut her off. "Don't tell April!" He scolded.

"--come get some pie for dessert, " Lorelai finished smoothly.

"Cool," April said.

"Okay, Luke. I'll be over in a few minutes."

"Thank you," Luke emphasized.

"Sure."

Lorelai went upstairs to both get her purse and put a pair of Luke's boxers in it. She came back down stairs to get the keys and a Doose's paper bag from the kitchen.

"I'll be back," Lorelai said.

"K. See ya," April called, still sitting on the couch.

* * *

As Lorelai ran across the lawn to Luke's truck, she saw a flash of lightning and thought, _"Oh, you better be in some huge pain if I'm willing to get struck by lighting for this."_ Lorelai pulled up in front of the diner, but before she got out of the truck, she transferred the boxers from her purse to the paper bag. 

"Hey," She greeted Luke who stood at the far end of the counter, near the curtain.

"Oh, bless you," he whispered as Lorelai set the goods on the counter.

"That bad, huh?" Lorelai smiled sympathetically.

"Oh..." Luke dramatized, then said point blank, "Yeah."

"Eesh," Lorelai said imagining.

Luke just nodded. "So? What's up at home?"

"Seinfeld. Lots and lots of Seinfeld."

"Okay, well, will you have April go to bed at 9:00? I don't want her to stay up all night. She has school tomorrow."

"Sure, but I wouldn't worry, she's a responsible kid."

"Yeah, just let her know."

"Okay," Lorelai agreed, nodding her head.

Luke nodded in response.

"D'you guys have dinner?"

"Yeah."

"What?" Luke asked.

"Interrogate much?" Lorelai said.

Luke rolled his eyes and waited for her to answer, bracing himself with his hands on the counter.

"Chicken nuggets and fries?" Lorelai said guiltily.

"Lorelai," Luke sighed.

"What? That's as far as my culinary skills go," she defended, laughing.

"I don't want April eating that garbage all the time," Luke said with annoyance.

"She doesn't," Lorelai said defensively, her voice rising in volume.

"Whenever you're with her, she does," Luke shot back at the same volume.

"So, it's my fault?"

"Well," Luke said, still looking her in the eyes.

"Luke, come on," Lorelai said, getting angry, "you know I can't cook."

"No, you don't _want_ to cook," Luke yelled back at her.

"Look, Luke. I'm sorry, but if you're not there to cook for your daughter, April's gonna eat what I can cook. Chicken nuggets is pretty much my limit right now, so back off. At least I'm feeding you daughter. Deal with it, Hun, 'cause that's just the way it is."

"No, you see, I have an issue dealing with the fact that my wife is too lazy to cook a decent meal for my daughter. That's not really something I just get over," Luke yelled angrily.

"Oh my God," Lorelai said under her breath, looking away from Luke and down at the floor. She took a deep breath, trying to suppress the tears, especially when Luke just kept right on going.

"I'm sorry that you don't see why I'd prefer if my daughter didn't eat junk all day like you do. And, I'm also sorry that I've placed the burden of feeding my child on someone who can barely feed themselves, " Luke finished.

"Fine," Lorelai scoffed. She looked back at him for a moment to raise her shaky voice and say, "Now, I promised April some pie, and if you deny her of it, I'll have to tell her why I really came over here, and I assume you don't want that."

"Apple or cherry?"

"Apple," Lorelai said, looking away again.

Luke scooped two slices into a white Styrofoam container and shoved it towards Lorelai.

"K. Bye," Lorelai said with no emotion and walked out without giving Luke a chance to respond.

* * *

_Alright, so it might be a little while before there's more. However I worked through a little of the part I've been struggling with today, so we might be rolling again. :)  
Oh, and sorry if this really short chapter was a little boring. I kind of think it was. Let me know._


	18. I Just Wanna Be Mad

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from _Gilmore Girls_ are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

_I couldn't help but post this next little part. It's not long... Mostly I just wanted and excuse to say, Go Patriots! Woohoo! Hope there's no Giants fans reading. If so, I'm very sorry. :)_

* * *

A few hours later, the phone rang. 

Lorelai sat in bed reading Nicholas Sparks's The Guardian.

April had gone to bed around 9:00, as requested.

* * *

"Hey, Lorelai. How about "The Soup Nazi"?" April had asked when Lorelai returned to the house earlier. 

"Sure," Lorelai said emotionlessly.

"You okay?" April asked as she took her slice of pie from Lorelai's outstretched hand.

"Oh. Yeah... Soup Nazi's good. Start-'er-up," Lorelai said, reassuring April with a smile and they dug into their dessert.

* * *

When that episode ended and Lorelai no longer had the TV to distract her, she glanced at the table covered in left over junk food that she would usually pack up and put away for another TV or Movie Night, but this time she unconsciously began cleaning up the mess and trashing the left over cookies, candy, and chips. April noticed Lorelai's efforts and helped her out without much thought. They parted ways a few minutes later, saying goodnight. 

"See you in the morning, Lorelai. Tonight was fun," April said with a smile from where she stood in the doorway to Rory's room.

"Yeah. I had fun too," Lorelai replied with a weak smile, standing in the hallway.

"Are you okay Lorelai?" April asked for the second time that night.

"Uh yeah," she said. Her voice took on a higher pitch as she tried to keep her tears at bay. "Um, April?"

"Yeah?" The girl asked with concern.

"You know I love you, right?" Lorelai asked, looking up at her slowly.

"Sure, I love you too, Lorelai," April said comfortingly.

A genuine smile crept slowly onto Lorelai's face although she continued to cry. Lorelai walked towards April and pulled her into a hug. April wrapped her arms around Lorelai's back as she was held tightly. The expression on April's face showed lack of understanding and worry.

"And? I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt you?"

"Yeah, of course," April said.

"Okay, good. Just so we're clear on that," Lorelai said, pulling out of the hug and wiping away her tears.

"Why? Did something happen?" April asked, wondering briefly if Lorelai had done something that would cause April to be angry with her, though she couldn't imaging what it could possibly have been.

"No, no. Just emotional for some reason," Lorelai lied, with a convincing laugh. "Who knows? Probably just PMS."

"Okay, if you're sure," April said softly, knowing something was up, but believing everything would work out. She decided to just let it go.

"Yeah, okay, sorry about this. I'll see you tomorrow. G'night."

"Night, Lorelai."

* * *

Lorelai reached to check the Caller ID, confirming her expectations. 

She answered, "Hey," having absolutely no emotion in her voice. "You ready?" She asked, coldly.

"Yeah."

"K, I'll be there in a few minutes." She hung up the phone without any response.

She then made no effort to hurry over to the dinner, but ended up arriving about 10 minutes later. No matter how much lack of hurrying she did, she still couldn't make it take that long to get there because the diner was only 2 minutes away no matter how slowly she drove.

When she pulled up alongside the diner, the lights flickered off inside as Luke walked down the front steps. Lorelai slid across the Chevy's bench seat to the passenger side. When Luke opened the door, Lorelai crossed her arms over her chest and looked out the window, saying nothing to Luke.

Luke just looked at her for a moment. When, after 30 seconds, she hadn't turned to look at him, he started up the truck, shaking his head.

After the short drive home, the truck sat in the driveway and Lorelai reached for the door handle to let herself out.

"Hey, wait a minute," Luke said, reaching out to grab Lorelai's arm.

She pulled away quickly, but made no move to either look at him or get out. So, they sat at a stalemate for a moment. Knowing Lorelai would never give in first, Luke began softly, "Hey."

Lorelai said nothing, she just crossed her arms again and turned to look out the window at what was obviously nothing at 11:00 at night on a street with no streetlights.

"Lorelai?" He tried.

Nothing.

"Hey, look at me," he commanded, but not harshly.

Reluctantly, she turned and stared at him pointedly.

Sincerely, he asked, "Are we okay?"

"Pfft," Lorelai scoffed, looking away again.

"Come on," Luke sighed, rolling his eyes.

Lorelai turned to look at Luke once more, staring into his eyes for a second and then throwing open the truck's door and walking into the house, not looking back.

Annoyed, Luke hit the steering wheel angrily with both palms and then jumped out of the truck, slammed the door shut, and stomped across the front lawn. Only when he got onto the porch did he step more calmly. He avoided being loud only because he knew April was asleep. When he arrive inside, all the downstairs lights were off, so he went up the stairs. As he entered the bedroom, he was still steaming.

He noticed Lorelai getting changed by her dresser and just looked at her for a moment. When she finally noticed him, she scowled and took her clothes into the bathroom with her. Angry, he stormed after her, throwing open the bathroom door, behind which Lorelai stood in a bra and pajama bottoms.

"You do realize that when I walk into the bathroom and shut the door, it means I don't want you to follow me, right?" Lorelai asked annoyed.

"Right now, I don't really care what you want. I just want to know why you're treating me like this."

"Why I'm treating you like this?" Lorelai yelled back. "Um, let's see. Where have you been? We're in a fight, Luke." She pulled her shirt over her head and turned away from him. Although, this really did little good because on the opposite wall was a mirror, so she eventually turned back around.

"I understand that. What I don't understand is _why_ we're in a fight."

"Because you told be I wasn't good enough, Luke." Lorelai screamed back.

"No, I didn't," he yelled.

"Yes, you did, when you said I wasn't fit to take care of your daughter, you told me I wasn't good enough."

"This is so ridiculous!" Luke yelled.

"What? That I'm hurt by the fact that you don't think I'm good enough. Huh. That's funny, because I don't think that's quite so stupid."

"Lorelai, I didn't mean it like that," Luke said, reaching out for her.

"No, Luke. That's what scares me, that you _did_ mean it," Lorelai said backing away from him. "Every time you've talked about how I eat in the past, you were always joking, but this time you weren't. This time you called me _lazy_, Luke. Not only does that just hurt by itself," a tear slid from her eye and down her cheek before she could wipe it away, "but then I realized that that was your reasoning for why I don't cook. And that means you've thought about it before today. And that's making me realize that maybe you weren't joking all those other times. I also wonder how I could possibly have a baby with you if you think I'm gonna be a bad mother to it."

"Lorelai," he started, wanting just to apologize at this point.

"No. No Lorelai. I'm going to bed," she said, making it clear that the discussion was over.

Luke crawled into bed 20 minutes later after taking a shower, trying to give them both time to cool off. He reached out and put his hand on Lorelai's hip as she faced the other direction, but when she flinched at the contact, he reluctantly pulled away.

"Lorelai?" He tried, knowing she was still awake.

"No, Luke."

"Please, Lorelai. I don't want to go to sleep without this settled, and I just want to apologize."

A moment passed as Lorelai thought about this.

"Luke?" she said.

"Yeah?" He asked hopefully.

"You know I'll always love you, right?"

"Yeah," he said softly.

"Good, but I'm not ready to stop being angry right now." She still faced the door. She closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep.

"I love you too," came Luke's soft reply a moment later as he turned towards the window.

* * *

_BTW, this part is not over, the next chapter will pick up the next morning._ Sorry it's so short! 


	19. And You Just Wanna Fix It

Disclaimer: All characters and situations from _Gilmore Girls_ are properties of Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions and Hofflund/Polone in association with Warner Bros. Television. No copyright infringement intended.

_Hey, you'll have to give me a little artistic license in this chapter regarding the structure of Emily and Richard's house. You'll see what I mean. Oh and also, I refuse to believe that Emily ever got rid of Lorelai's bedroom, so pretend that never happened._

* * *

The next morning, Luke woke up around 6:15. Lane was opening the diner for him, and he had to bring April to school in about an hour. As his eyes opened slowly, he saw that the other side of the bed was unoccupied. Sighing, he remembered what he'd gone to sleep to the night before. Luke saw no evidence that Lorelai was in the bathroom, so he got out of bed and made his way to the shower. 

Fifteen minutes later he trudged downstairs, hearing the shower in the downstairs bathroom. Walking into the kitchen, he sneaked a peek into April's room and concluded that it had to be her in the shower by the emptiness of the bedroom. This disappointed Luke only because he held some strange hope that maybe it was Lorelai in the shower. Maybe her anger compelled her to use a different shower than he used. He really didn't know. He couldn't explain the crazy justifications women sometimes made.

Luke sighed and walked toward the refrigerator. He pulled out a carton of eggs and some American cheese and began preparing an omelet for April's breakfast.

Just as a piece of toast popped up in the toaster, April walked into the kitchen, saying, "Morning, Dad."

"Good morning."

Luke set down her plate on the table and poured her a glass of juice.

"Thanks," April smiled, sitting down.

Luke began to clean up, and April asked with a mouthful of egg, "Where's Lorelai?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full."

"Sorry."

"She had to leave early for work," he lied. "She wasn't here when you got up?"

"Nope," April shrugged.

"Hm. I guess she really did have to leave pretty early, then," Luke smiled.

* * *

As Luke pulled out of the school's driveway, he reached for his cell phone and dialed number 1. 

_"Hi. This is Lorelai Gilmore-Danes's Cell Phone. If you'd like to leave her a message, just wait oooone second."_

The beep sounded and Luke said, "Hi Lorelai, it's Luke. Call me back," and hung up with a sigh.

Next, Luke checked in at the diner for a while. Around 9:00, having still not heard from his wife, Luke decided to swing by the inn. He wanted desperately to talk to Lorelai. He had a guilty feeling in his gut that he knew would not subside unless he talked to her.

"Hello?" Luke said, walking through the inn's front door. Only guests looked toward him suspiciously. He did not see Lorelai at the front desk, only Michel.

"Is Lorelai around?"

"No," Michel said.

"She's not?" Luke asked, surprised.

"No. She didn't come in this morning. She's once again left me alone."

"Oh. Do you know where she is? Or, why she didn't come in?"

"No, but I'm sorry, you are her husband, yes?"

"Yes," Luke wondered where this was going.

"So, should you know where she is?"

"Michel," he grumbled.

"It would be greatly appreciated if you find her, if you'd tell her I'm more than just a little perturbed that she's deserted me to do double the work."

"Oh yeah, you bet, Michel," Luke said, but Michel didn't really detect the sarcasm.

"Wonderful, now if you'd kindly leave me alone now, I have to finish all this crap before my yoga class at 3:00."

Luke wandered into the kitchen next.

"Hey, Sookie? Do you know where Lorelai is?"

"Uh, she called this morning and said she wouldn't be in today. She was talking really fast and said she was in a rush, so I didn't get a chance to ask questions. I could have sworn she mentioned her mother though."

"Great, I'll try there. Thanks, Sookie."

"Is everything okay, Luke?"

"I hope so," he said and walked out the door.

* * *

Luke was on a mission. He was determined to find his wife, apologize, and settle their dispute. A half hour later, he turned into the large Gilmore mansion's Hartford driveway. Getting out of the truck, he stomped up to the large wooden door. A moment after knocking, Luke could hear footsteps approaching the front of the house. When the door opened, Luke noticed Lorelai's forced warm expression quickly cool to annoyance once she realized that Luke was not another one of Emily's rich party guests, only her husband. 

"Yes?" she asked, her voice dripping with indifference.

"Lorelai, I've been worried about you all morning. We need to talk."

"I can't right now, Luke."

"Well, why not?" He voice grew louder as his frustration escalated.

"Keep your voice down," Lorelai whispered, harshly.

"Okay, listen to me. I. need. to. talk. to. you." Luke dragged this out, trying desperately to get through to Lorelai.

"I can't talk right now," Lorelai insisted.

Luke pointed out, "I believe I've already asked, 'why not?'."

"Because of my mom's guests. It's rude."

"Why are you even here?"

"Because."

"Because why? -- No! You know what? Forget it. Are we gonna talk or what?"

Luke had to wait a minute for a response. At first, he and Lorelai just stared at each other. Then, Lorelai glanced around as if checking to see if the coast was clear. Finally, she said, "Fine. But you can't come through the event. Go around back. I'll let you in through the kitchen door."

"Fine," Luke agreed.

"Fine," Lorelai said again.

There was a momentary pause.

"So?" Luke asked.

"Go around," Lorelai commanded and shut the front door swiftly, Luke still standing there.

Lorelai waited for Luke in the kitchen. When he appeared at the door, she opened it and waited for him to enter.

Luke just stood at the doorstep, looking at Lorelai, thinking she would tell him to come in.

She didn't. She stood with her arms crossed defensively over her chest. Her head was bowed and she stared at the spotless floor. Finally, Luke walked inside with a roll of his eyes.

With this, Lorelai closed the door and looked at him, waiting for him to begin.

"So?" He asked.

"So? Was this the profound talk you were looking for?"

"Okay, fine. If you don't want this to be civil, it doesn't have to be. I'll just get right to the point."

"No argument here."

"Okay. Why are you here?" He listed his first issue. "Why didn't you go to work?" No answer. "Okay how 'bout this one: Why did you just leave this morning...without saying goodbye or leaving note to tell me where you'd be?"

She shrugged.

Luke threw his hand into the air and finally exploded with anger.

"Lorelai! Why are you being like this? Why are we still fighting?"

Lorelai chose to start at the first question, so she yelled back, "I'm here because my mom needed help today." She continued to clarify, "I woke up early this morning to go to work because I wanted some more time to think. But, on the way I got a call from my mother. Crazy me, I answered the phone. She tells me her maid called in sick at the last minute. She could not be persuaded, bribed, or threatened to come in. And, it takes 24 hours to get a new maid from that service that gets _so_ much business from my mother. So, she doesn't have anyone. On a normal day, she'd be able to survive, but she and the Hartford Garden Club were having their annual meeting to plan the year's events. That means, forty women would be coming over, all with coats that need to be hung, and in desperate need of tea that must be served. So, there's no way my mother could possibly do all that _and_ be a proper hostess. That's where I come in."

"But it's October."

"Yeah?"

"Flowers aren't usually planted in late fall."

"It's all for next year."

"Well, it seems stupid to me," Luke declared.

Just then, Emily walked into the kitchen. "Hello, Luke."

"Hello, Mrs. Gilmore."

"I did not know you would be coming over."

"Neither did I, but I needed to talk to Lorelai, so when I found out that she was here--"

"You didn't know she was here?"

"No, she didn't tell me," Luke said pointedly.

"Excuse me," Lorelai was annoyed. "I'd appreciate if you didn't discuss this with my mother, Luke."

"Why not?" Emily asked. "We all know you're fighting. It's certainly loud enough. That's why I came in. You're disturbing the event. I'd like you to go up to Lorelai's room and settle this. What are you even fighting about?"

Lorelai crossed her arms and looked away from Emily defiantly, so she turned to Luke.

"I honestly couldn't tell you," he admitted.

Lorelai snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Alright, will go upstairs, figure it out, fix it, and then Luke, you go back to your diner and Lorelai, you come down and serve brunch."

"Yes, Mom," Lorelai said as she trudged toward the staircase that was attached to the kitchen and opened up upstairs across from Lorelai's bedroom.

"Sorry, Mrs. Gilmore," Luke said before following Lorelai up the stairs.

* * *

A moment later, Lorelai walked through the door to her old bedroom and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. She avoided Luke's gaze while he closed the door and stood facing Lorelai with his hands on his hips. 

Together, they each let out a sigh.

Assuming Lorelai would refuse to initiate the conversation, Luke began, "Okay, Lorelai, please just tell me how you feel or felt or whatever about everything so I can understand and we can just move past it."

Lorelai sighed, continued staring at the floor, and finally admitted, "I'm sorry, Luke. I blew this way out of proportion."

"No, Lorelai," Luke said softly, moving closer to her. "You don't have to be sorry. I don't deserve that. If you were or are upset, then you didn't blow it out of proportion. Just tell me."

She began again, and Luke lifted her chin with his finger to look into her eyes as she spoke.

"You called me lazy, Luke. That's what hit the hardest." This brought tears to her eyes for the third time. "I mean, that's _exactly _why I don't cook. You hit it right on the head. I don't know how and I've always been too lazy to try and figure it out, but it really hurt when you said it."

Luke took her hand and looked pointedly into her eyes, sure to keep her full attention, "Lorelai, I'm so sorry. I honestly don't even remember saying it. I was just ranting, that's all. I wasn't even thinking about what was coming out. And, it's not true. You're not _lazy_...everyone has their things they just hate doing. It's not lazy; they just don't want to. It's okay, we're all allowed our things. With me it's shaving," he said. "But really, I'm _so_ sorry about that. It was wrong and I shouldn't have said it. There's no excuse, and I'm sorry."

Lorelai nodded slowly, and then whispered, "I just got scared, Luke."

"Of?" he asked, "I mean, it's my fault, I know, but I want to know specifically."

"I guess you just made it sound like you thought I let kids eat junk all the time. I guess I figured that meant that's how you thought I'd act with out kid. And, you know what? It probably will be--" she sighed, throwing her arms in the air in defeat, "to some extent."

"Lorelai, I didn't--" he started, wanting to take back all that he'd said.

"No, it's okay," she held up a hand to stop him, wanting to get her explanation out, "but I just got freaked out because you were so passionate about it. I was afraid you thought I'd be a bad mother, not caring about our kid's health. Somewhere in my mind, I think I was even afraid that you didn't want to have kids with me because you're afraid I'd be a bad mother."

"Lorelai, that's not how I feel at all," he promised desperately. "I just, God, I was just annoyed at having such a good day with you and then having to stay at the diner while you got to be with April. That's how it always is, me at the diner, you with her. And I just started blaming you, trying to justify that I'm still a better parent even thought I'm always working. It was stupid and I'm so sorry, Lorelai. It's all just my own insecurities."

"Please, Luke, you're a great dad. You don't spend too much time at work."

"I know, I just...No, I'm just sorry. I didn't mean any of what I said. I just need you to know that."

"I know, and realistically, I think it just spooked me more than anything else."

"Why?" Luke asked, concerned. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as he touched her cheek.

"Because..." a tear fell from her eye, "I'm not getting another chance," she squeaked.

"You will." _Wow, how did everything come back to this?_ Luke thought to himself with a frown.

She shook her head, "No, but what if someone out there," she gestured with her hands, "knows that I just got lucky with Rory? They're trying to show me, through your thing about my cooking and how I keep not being pregnant, that I shouldn't have another kid because I'm not really the mother I make myself out to be."

"That's crazy! _You_ are an _amazing_ mother to Rory. Any kid would be thrilled to have you."

"You said it yourself once," she pointed out, choking from the tears.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"That I just got lucky with Rory."

"When? I don't remember that."

"When Jess first came to town, and we were at the house for dinner and we..."

"Oh..." Luke remembered. "We were fighting though, I would have said anything to get you off my back, and just -- pissed off. I don't really think that. It's plenty clear that you did great with Rory."

"Really?"

"Of course."

"So, you do want to have kids with me?"

"Definitely," he smiled.

"Good," Lorelai said, letting out a held breath.

"How could you have been worried about that?" Luke sighed, thinking out loud. "I feel awful that you were."

"Well, we jumped into the idea kind of quickly, and now you've had time to think about it 'cause of the delay. Plus, I wasn't sure if you'd want to have one of your kids exposed to my eating and/or cooking full time," smiling, she realized how ridiculous this sounded.

"Well, I don't," Luke laughed.

Lorelai slapped him on the arm.

"I'll just do the cooking."

"Yeah, or you could teach me how to cook," she shrugged.

"Really?"

"Well, simple stuff, don't get too excited."

"So we could have cooking lessons?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah, if we both wear nothing but aprons while we do it." Lorelai shrugged.

Luke rolled his eyes, but Lorelai leaned in to kiss him. She reached up to caress his cheeks with her thumbs. He rested his hands on her thighs. "I missed you holding me last night," she admitted softly.

"I missed holding you last night," he whispered back.

Lorelai trailed her tongue along Luke's bottom lip, begging for a pass inside of Luke. He teased her for a moment, not granting her access. Her moan of frustration was his undoing. Their tongues met and took on minds of their own, exploring, probing, loving, and apologizing to each other. Lorelai reached behind Luke and rubbed up and down his back as his hands moved to her waist.

Lorelai pulled away for a moment to whisper, "I love you."

"I love you too," Luke returned and leaned into her again.

She threaded her arms around his shoulders and began to lean back. Luke followed, not allowing her to disengage. He supported her with a hand on her back until she lay safely on the bed. Luke then moved to suck the soft skin of her neck between his waiting lips, evoking beautiful sounds from her with his tongue.

As Luke continued to worship her, she slid her hands down into his back pockets, trying discretely to push his hips into hers.

Luke moved to suck on Lorelai's earlobe and she whispered, "Oh, God," and lifted her hips up toward his after wrapping her legs around his waist.

When the desired friction was not achieved and he continued his oral torture on her neck, she groaned in frustration and moved to flip them over.

Luke complied and Lorelai rolled over until she sat perched on Luke. He rested one hand on her waist and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear with the other. Lorelai stared into his eyes for a moment and then leaned down to kiss him, slowly and lightly.

She soon sat up straight again. As her eyes closed slowly, she began leaning forward slightly, her hands coming to rest on the mattress on either side of Luke's shoulders. She ground her hips into Luke's and moaned softly as she was finally granted the pressure she craved. "Luke," she whispered.

He rubbed up and down her bare thighs encouragingly as he admired his obviously aroused wife. Luke smiled at her as she rubbed herself against him, covered in denim. He considered her frantic motions and chuckled as his eyes fell upon the skirt of her dress pooled at her waist and he thought of the white cotton panties underneath.

Though this was not the most stimulating for Luke, he sacrificed himself for the pleasure he could see this was bringing his wife. And besides, the sight before him more than made up for the uncomfortably rough abrasion of the denim against his crotch. Luke could see the opposite effect the motions were having on Lorelai's attempts at pleasure as her expression became more and more concentrated by the second.

Just as her soft "mmm"s of pleasure became more intense, a knock at the door made her throw herself off of him and move to sit beside Luke on the beg as he bolted to a sitting position.

"Is everything alright? I don't hear any yelling," came Emily's voice through the thick wooden door.

"Yeah, Mom. We're good. We were just...talking. We'll be right down. Okay?"

"Alright," Emily answered, completely oblivious.

Lorelai bowed her head, avoiding Luke's glance.

They both sat in silence for a few moments, getting themselves together enough to be able to walk downstairs into a civilized women's party.

Luke finally said, "Well...that was...new..."

"Yeah...sorry," Lorelai sighed, running a hand through her hair and finally looking over at Luke.

"No, no. I wasn't looking for an apology. It was just that..."

"Were in my parents' house?" Lorelai finished.

"Yeah," Luke said.

"In my old bedroom?"

"Yup."

"With a bunch of dolls..." Luke nodded as Lorelai continued, "...who just had to watch me..." the nods continued, "...use your jeans...and not you."

"Well, I was under the jeans," Luke shrugged.

"Oh, I know..." Lorelai sighed, closing her eyes.

Luke smiled at this. "That's okay."

"And then my mother..."

"Oh, yeah," Luke blushed.

"So, if she hadn't...do you think we would have...here...with the dolls?" she trailed off, gesturing to line of toys along the wall.

"I think _you_ would have," he joked.

She slapped him on the arm playfully as she blushed and then leaned in for a loving kiss.

A minute later, Luke said, "Ready to get out of here?"

"Yeah." She smiled at him.

"K. Let's go."

They got off the bed and walked toward the door, hand in hand. As Luke reached for the door knob, he turned to her quickly and said, "Wait, but before we leave, we never really settled anything."

"Don't worry, Hon. We're fine."

"Are you sure?" Luke asked, fingering a strand of her hair.

"Definitely. I sort of freaked for a little while."

"I know, and I'm sorry I made you freak. I really wasn't intending to insult or ridicule you. I just worry sometimes too...about April. _You_ and April." Luke admitted this without looking up at Lorelai.

"Oh, Luke...What? That I'm going to food poison her?"

"No," Luke assured her, "just that..." he trailed off with a sigh.

"What, Babe? You started to tell me earlier, but explain it to me," she ushered, cupping his cheek with her palm.

He took her hand in his and said, "You too are just getting kind of close, and sometimes I just worry. It's stupid."

Lorelai wore a concerned expression.

"You give her fun food while I'm a health nut..."

"Luke, she's not gonna turn on you over a few vegetables."

"Yeah, I guess. But, it's not even just about food. It's everything. Our kid will like you better because you're the fun one and I'll end up being the boring 'bad-guy' one."

"Luke! That's so not true," she assured him. "I might be the one giving them what tastes good, but you'll be the one keeping them alive." She smiled and got one in return.

They leaned in for a hug and stood swaying back and forth for a while. They pulled apart slowly, Luke once again reaching for the door.

"Hold on. One more thing before we go," Lorelai said.

"What is it?" Luke asked.

"How do we prevent a food crisis from occurring again?"

"Huh," Luke thought about it.

"Do we need to come up with some sort of rule for when we eat crap and when we eat legitimate food?" Lorelai asked.

"Well, maybe if or when we have a couple little, impressionable kids, we could consider a system, but really Lorelai, this whole thing was barely even about that, so don't worry too much about it."

"Yeah, I know, it's just that if those things came out, they had to have come from somewhere, so I just want to change things a little before it really does become and issue. Take a preemptive strike, you know?"

"I understand," Luke said, thinking about it for a moment. "For now, how 'bout I just make sure there's good stuff at home that you can just heat in the microwave if I'm not home and it's just you and April?"

"Sounds good." Lorelai agreed. "But wait, by 'good' do you mean healthy, because to me 'good' is _good_ not _healthy_, and if you just mean _good_, then we've gotten absolutely _nowhere_, and I can make that crap without your help." She looked at him expectantly with wide eyes.

"Yeah, healthy," he laughed.

"Okay, good because otherwise this would have been completely pointless."

"Nah," Luke said. "I think it's been pretty point_ful_, actually."

"Is that a word?" Lorelai asked.

"Nah," Luke said again as he opened the door and they headed down the stairs again.

"How about successful then?"

"I think that's better," Luke said following her into the kitchen.

"Oh. Mom. Hi," Lorelai said, surprised when she and Luke entered the kitchen to find Emily sitting at the counter.

"Hello," she responded with a smile. "I see you two have made up."

"The hand holding and smiles must be a dead give away," Luke said.

"Yes," Emily agreed. "So, everything is fine, then? You've settled your issues."

"Yup," Lorelai said.

"Wonderful," Emily said, standing up from the stool. "I'm very pleased."

They both nodded.

"Okay, so, as long as everything is fine, Lorelai, the ladies are waiting for brunch."

"Oh. Of course. I'll get started on that then."

"Splendid," Emily said with a smile and clasped her hands together in front of her.

Luke and Lorelai simply stood there expectantly, and so did Emily.

Lorelai looked toward Luke and then back at Emily.

"Well?" Emily asked.

"Um, I'll be right in."

"What are you waiting for?"

"Well, I thought I'd say goodbye to Luke first."

"Oh, for Heaven's sake..." she said in a huff and stormed out of the kitchen.

"M'kay. Bye, Hun. I'll call you later. Do you need me to pick April up on my way home?"

"Uh, what time will you finish here?"

"About 12. I only have like an hour and a half left."

"Oh, okay because April has a--"

"--half day," Lorelai and Luke said simultaneously.

"I know," Lorelai said. "Would it be okay with you if we went shopping or something? You know, if April wants to?"

"Uh, sure. I guess. But why?"

"I don't know. Sometimes girls just like to shop. I was just gonna ask her. Plus, I don't really feel like going to work today."

"You feeling okay?" Luke asked, concerned, touching her arm as he asked.

"Oh, I'm fine...just not really up to seeing Michel...you know?" She asked, nodding as she continued. "I'm a little tired. You know, getting to that time of the month again. So, actually, on second thought I probably won't last long shopping anyway. Maybe we'll just get lunch. Who knows, I was just going to see if she wanted to hang out. I miss hanging out with a teenage girl. I forgot how much fun Rory and I used to have." She smiled.

"I'm sorry you miss Rory," Luke said, reaching to take her hand.

"It's not that. I mean, sure I miss her, but I still get to see her. I just miss the younger, naive, values-my-advise-and-wisdom, looks-up-to-the-cool-older-girl little teen she used to be."

"Well, then good you have that with April now."

"Exactly."

"Okay, great. Well, I should probably go before your mother comes back in and finds me still here."

"K. See you later." They kissed goodbye and Luke turned toward the door.

At the last second, he turned around and reached for his wallet, handing Lorelai some cash. "Here, today's on me."

"Thanks, Babe." Lorelai smiled.

"I love you, Lorelai."

"Love you too."

"Bye."

Lorelai waved as Luke looked back at her through the kitchen window as he made his way back toward the front of the house. Lorelai put the money in her purse on the counter, grabbed a nearby tray, and headed into the dining room.

* * *

_Extremely_ proud of this one's length! (Dirty? I know. I'm embarrassed to say that had to be pointed out to me a few chapters ago when I said something similar.) 

**Hey Please Read This!** (In case any of you were not planning to) I'm changing my name (not my actual name, that's still the same), but my name on the site. Sorry to anyone who actually cares, just thought I should let you know since the website seems to be very against changing of names...don't really know if it matters or not. :) So, that's it. Not too different, just a little. Now it's gonna be Jaycee102, but you all would have figured that out once it changed. :)


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